Legolas is like marmite
by Tinuviel and Lady Alatar
Summary: Legolas is like marmite, you either love him or hate him. But when two teenage girls arrive in middle earth, they have to put up with him, like it or not. Ariel and Caeli must learn to live with him...and the rest of Middle earth! GlorfindelOC LegolasOC
1. Chapter 1

**Introduction**

Ariel and Caeli are 15 years old (almost sixteen yay!) and best friends (most of the time).

Ariel is pale-skinned with curly reddish brown hair with big olive eyes. She hates her nose and Caeli enjoys teasing her about it (this generally a crash diet as she sincerely hopes that this will cause her nose to lose weight).

Caeli has naturally tanned skin, dark brown, usually uncontrollable, wavy hair and dark brown eyes.

They love Lord of the Rings, New Zealand, having fun, chocolate and moisturiser.

They are on a camping trip alone in New Zealand, they have already got lost too many times to count and currently aren't quite sure what range of hills they're in but have been forced to set up camp in the middle of no where due to a storm. They are possibly miles away from food or civilisation of any kind. Basically they're in quite a bit of trouble, but do they realise it? Of course not!

**Chapter One**

**Ariel's POV**

"Caeli?"

"Ariel?"

"Can I bor…"

"No."

"You don't know what I want."

"Yes I do."

"What do I want?"

"Legolas." Huh. So funny. But sadly true. Yes, I like Legolas. Who doesn't? (Apart from Caeli). And yes, it's a bit pathetic that I love a fictional character who doesn't exist. But then, if I had him, he'd be real, so he wouldn't BE a fictional character, so that means I'm not sad because he would be real if he was… oh shut up shut up shut up. I confuse myself :S.

"No, I want your cd player. Although, if you have Legolas hidden in your bag, I wouldn't mind having him either."

"You can have the cd player. And duh, of course I don't have Legolas. He bugs me."

**Caeli's POV**

I opened my bag and took out the cd player. It was always on top so I didn't need to search.

"The speakers are on top and I can't be bothered to look for the headphones so play something I like or go outside," I said and tossed her the cd player and speakers. I was teasing her though, there was fierce storm raging outside our tent keeping us shut inside and bored.

"Fine, I'll go outside!" she retorted crossly and moved towards the tent flap with an exaggerated expression of defiance on her face. She opened the tent flap half way and was immediately sprayed with rain.

"Well that wasn't very clever! You know this storm probably going to go on for ages yet, we haven't got a chance," I said miserably and threw her a towel we had out as she closed the tent again.

"I was only trying to be optimistic," she grumbled. I lay back with my head against my bag and she followed suit, draping the towel across her face.

"You know you look like a four year old at a Halloween party don't you?" I smirked. She did, apart from the fact she was using a towel instead of a sheet.

"Have you ever seen a four year old at a Halloween party?" she asked, her voice muffled by the towel.

"No,"

"Well then you don't know that I look like one do you?" she concluded.

"True." I conceded.

We were silent for a while. The tent was tossed about by the wind and the rain poured down over our little tent, thunder echoed in the background.

Then it happened. I saw bright flash of light in front of my eyes, and then darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

Ariel: Hem hem. Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you……… Caeli with the DISCLAIMER!

Caeli: I own nothing. Tolkien owns it cos he's wonderful.

Ariel: HEY!

Caeli? uhh.. line?

Ariel: sigh Tolkien owns what he owns and the authors of this wonderful fanfiction own us.

Caeli: Oh…. Right…. Ok. Why'd ya shout at me?

Ariel: Because Tolkien doesn't own us.

**Chapter One**

**Ariel's POV**

_Ow…. I hurt all over…. _

"Caeli?" No response. I heard a rustling of the grass.

"My lady?"

'What just happened?' I wondered out loud, and then shivered. At least the storm seemed to have stopped.

"I do not know. Are you alright?"

"If you count not being able to see and generally feeling like a twenty-eight ton lorry just ran over me then reversed back again, yeah, I'm absolutely wonderful."

Waaaait a minute. Now I was pretty sure that Caeli's voice didn't sound like that. In fact, I was absolutely certain. And if I could SEE it might have actually helped me to discover who mystery person was. I could tell that it was a man's voice, which confused me even more. I mean, why was some random guy in our tent asking if we were ok? Come to think of it, why was my whole body so painful? And where was Caeli anyway?

"Who are you?" I asked nervously, hoping it wasn't a murderer.

"I am Lord Glorfindel, and my companion here is Prince Legolas."

_Back away from the scary lunatic, Ariel. Although there isn't really anywhere to back away TO, in a tent. Ok, try and appease the local spirits with a small sacrifice… joking._

OK, I knew New Zealand was lord of the rings country, but that was going TOO far. There is a fine line between enjoying an obsession and needing a visit to the doctor's for some prozac.

"No, who are you REALLY?"

"I just told you. I am Lord Glorfindel and this here is Prince Legolas."

I heard a movement next to me. I was beginning to get seriously scared now. Who wouldn't? I was in the middle of no where, completely blind, with a couple of madmen.

"Ariel?" Thank god thank god thank god. Maybe she could get us out of here. Wait.. why was she laughing at me? It wasn't funny!

"Ariel, I know you hate your nose, but sticking a towel over your head is NOT the way to hide it!" she laughed. I reached up and slowly removed my towel from my face.

_I can't BELIEVE this._

I decided there and then that I must have accidentally committed some cardinal sin, because God had apparently started up a little vendetta against me.

_The embarrassment…. Swallow me up, ground._

Oh no, I couldn't just randomly pass out when I had a towel over my head. The two best-looking guys the world has ever seen just had to be standing in front of me.

_Breathe, Ariel. In fact, don't. That way you can faint and escape the embarrassment._

Ok, I suppose there was a funny side. And if it had been anyone else but me, I would have been laughing. But no, it wasn't anyone else. And I figured, it didn't matter what the two guys thought of me because they were crazy anyway.

"Uh, Caeli, what's happened to our tent? And where are we?"

One of the handsome – NO – one of the crazy men decided to answer for her.

"My lady, there is no trace of a tent in the surrounding area." OK, what? "And you are just west of Imladris."

I looked over at Caeli and we both burst out laughing.

"Guys, I don't know what you took this morning, but Imladris doesn't exist, ok?" Caeli informed them.

"But of course it does! I shall take you there now as you were both unconscious and I feel that a healer should attend to any injuries you have."

_Oh no. Now comes the kidnapping bit. This cannot be happening!_

And in completely clichéd Hollywood style, I fainted.

Caeli's POV

"Ariel!" I shouted, and shook her to try to wake her up. "Do something!" I almost screamed at the two men near us, "Ariel wake up!" Ariel had never (to my knowledge) fainted before, I had never seen anyone faint before - I didn't know what to do!

"She has fainted my lady," said one the men – wrong move.

"I KNOW SHE'S FAINTED! I can see that, unlike her I haven't got a towel over by face, and no wonder she's fainted you probably scared the life out of her dressed like that! What are you doing here anyway and what have you done with our tent!" I must have been a sight, sitting next to my collapsed friend screaming at the two grown men who where looming above me. Who did they think they were, creeping up on us while we were sleeping? Perverts!

"Lady please calm down," said the other man and knelt beside me. "I am Glorfindel of Rivendell and comrade is Legolas of Mirkwood," he continued, and I felt myself calming down, I don't know what it was, his soft voice, deep blue eyes…he was so hot…

"Yourself and your friend both need medical attention, now, there is a place called Rivendell not far off where we can get help."

_Wait a second…wake up, Mirkwood, Rivendell? _"Middle earth?" I whispered, so softly I was surprised he heard me.

"Yes, Middle earth," he replied but this time he sounded more unsure than calming. "Where are you from?" he asked and this time I detected (with my ultra sensitive cool hearing powers (well actually it was obvious)) a slight note of suspicion.

"England," I whispered even more softly, hoping not to anger this obviously crazy man who I had noticed had a rather large sword attached to his belt. _Its ok just don't get him cross, don't say 'no', 'don't', 'can't' or 'won't', he may resort to violence at any time._

He just started at me blankly for a few seconds _Its ok, think positive, send him positive vibes, he's not reaching for his sword, neither is the other guy, the sword is probably plastic anyway, he doesn't want to kill me._

_He won't kill me…_

_He won't kill me…_

_He won't kill me…_

The power of suggestion obviously works, 'he' didn't try to kill me.

"We need to get you to Rivendell," Legolas said finally, almost to himself rather than to me, and then added "its not far, we won't make you walk fast."

Then, despite everything else my sense-of-self-greatness kicked in. "oh you think I can't walk far do you?" I said folding my arms in text book teenage attitude, "you know me and Ariel we walked over half of New Zealand with these" here I viciously prodded at my bag (which I was relieved to see hadn't been stolen) "on our backs!"

"I apologise I didn't mean to offend you; and I don't know where New Zealand is," said the Legolas with a truly apologetic kind of look.

"Look, I would rather not have this argument with you, I have only a small piece of fluff in my brain and it can't cope, but that small piece of fluff realises that we need to get my friend TO A DOCTOR!" I finished, shouting.

"Yes of course," said Legolas nodding "I'll have to carry her, to Rivendell, would she mind?" he asked me.

"No," I said immediately and couldn't help smiling "I quite sure she wouldn't" _Oh my god If this really is Legolas, and yes he does look kinda like him, Ariel will never recover from happiness! _I thought as I watched Legolas scoop her up gently into his arms.

"I will carry your packs" said the guy who called himself Glorfindel and proceeded to pick them up.

"Its very kind of you to offer to carry Ariel's, and yes I would appreciate it, but I can carry my own bag thank you," I said and reached my bag.

"No really, I can carry them both, you need to rest," he said locking his eyes onto mine. I confess at that point I melted, who could ever disagree with those blue eyes? Anyway, I mustn't say 'no' must I:)

"Thank you," I said looking down at the ground, a terrible habit of mine in such situations. It was then that I noticed a beautiful flower that was growing right beside me. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before. It came almost up to my knee with many ivory white petals and a golden centre that I can only describe as star shaped. I had never seen anything like it before around were our tent had been

"Its beautiful!" I breathed and bent down to smell it. It smelt wonderful, like summer mornings. "It smells lovely," I said smiling, "Don't you think?" I asked the nearest guy assuming they knew what it smelt like since it seemed to cover the field we were in…wait a second. The field we put out tent in definitely did not have these flowers in. _Take deeep breaths ._

"Yes…" said Glorfindel with a small smile. "We should be going…" he said gently.

"Oh yes of course, Ariel, " I said hastily gathering my bag and setting off after Legolas and Ariel with Glorfindel following behind me.


	3. Chapter 3

Ariel: Caeli, I think we should get Ala and Tin, our wonderful creators, to do this disclaimer.

Caeli: But, they're us anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Ariel: I now present: ALA AND TIN!

Audience: WOOOOOOOO!

Ala: uhhmmm… I wasn't actually expecting this… line?

Tin: You and Caeli are TOO much alike… tell them about what Tolkien owns.

Ala: Tolkien owns everything. I own Caeli and I'm bidding for Glorfindel on ebay.

Tin: And I own Ariel and I'm gonna steal Leggy from Tolkien tomorrow at 2.45 pm.

Ghost of Tolkien: HEY! MINE!

Ala: sigh nothing like announcing that you're going to steal someone else's property TO the someone else. She always was slightly weird…

Tin: OI! YOU LITTLE….. thump

Elrond: Break it up ladies, break it up!

Ala and Tin: Whaaat? You're not supposed to be in this! Why are you here? Go away!

**Chapter 3**

**Ariel POV**

I blinked, and opened my eyes slowly. And then promptly shut them again.

_Oh dear. Looks like Caeli didn't manage to fight off the crazy people. Because that is a roof above my head. Which means that I am no longer in the middle of a field. Pretty ceiling, though._

I opened my eyes again and looked around. I was lying in a huge four poster bed in a room that seemed vaguely familiar. Part of my mind was urging me to run, to escape and try and find Caeli, but the bigger part of my mind (no comments Caeli!) was perfectly content to lounge around in the nice comfy bed all day.

I began to drift off to sleep when a voice spoke.

"I am pleased to see that you have awoken, my lady."

"I'm not sure that I share that feeling, personally… oh…." My voice trailed off as I stared at the man in front of me. He seemed oddly familiar to me, and for some reason I felt as if I knew a lot about him, even though I couldn't think where I'd seen him before.

"Well, that is understandable, you have slept for three days, and it is always hard to wake up after such a long rest." He didn't seem at all disconcerted from me staring at him, in fact he seemed to find it quite amusing. I often seem to have that effect on people, I get quite bored of them laughing at me sometimes. It wouldn't bug me so much, it's just that generally they're laughing because I've either said or done something stupid and/or embarrassing.

"Well, where am I?" Ok, I admit it, that was kind of rude. I mean, the guy's just said he was pleased to see me awake (there's not many people who would let themselves be PAID to do that), and I just demand to know where I am. On second thoughts, perfectly reasonable.

"Um sorry I don't mean to be that rude, but the last two times I was conscious I was in two very different places to where I am now, so, um, where am I?"

"You are in Rivendell, the Last Homely House."

_Oh. My. God._

Now I hadn't believed the two guys when they had informed me that I was in Middle Earth, that I was, in fact, very near to Elrond's house. However, I had just recognised the person sitting in front of me. How could I have not realised? With THOSE eyebrows?

So I said my stupidest comment so far: "Heya Elrond!"

Lets just say that the famous eyebrows went WAY up. I was honestly waiting for him to jump up, call the guards, and say 'Off with her head!'

Only, of course, he didn't. But I think that was only due to the shock of the 'heya!' and that I didn't call him Lord. Oh, the fact that I knew his name might have been something to do with it, as well.

So we were sitting there staring at each other. I have to say, it takes TALENT to manage to render LORD ELROND HALF-ELVEN speechless. Now, what I needed was for Caeli to run in the door and go 'Ariel!' Because at least that would have ended the VERY uncomfortable moment. Sadly, however, this was not to be. Which was a pity, but I really needed to stop relying on other people (ie Caeli) to get me out of the holes which I managed to dig myself deeper into every time I opened my mouth.

Needless to say, Elrond was rather curious to know how I knew his name, and what was with the strange greeting I had given him – heya is not a commonly used term in middle earth, it seems. Mae govannen, hir Elrond would probably have been slightly more appropriate. (_Well met, lord Elrond.)_

I desperately tried to salvage my sanity. Not that it exists, but I didn't really want the lord of Rivendell to realise that I was, in all honestly, overdue for a straitjacket. The problem is, when I don't know what to say, I generally end up saying the weirdest things. Occasionally referring to ostriches. But as I had a funny feeling that middle earth would never have seen an ostrich (well, that's just middle earth's loss – I like ostriches), I bit my lip, trying not to let a stupid comment escape my lips. Of course, that wasn't the whole reason I was chewing my lip as if it was Wonka's everlasting gum. I hate to admit it, but I was terrified.

What scared me wasn't the fact that I was in middle earth, sitting having a conversation with one of the three ring-bearers (of the elven rings), who happened to be the ruler of the place which I had accidentally arrived in. What terrified me was that I knew that somewhere, in some other different world, I was seriously ill, and either lying in a coma somewhere in hospital having one of those weird dreams that people apparently have, or else I was walking around hallucinating and calling some random person Elrond. The latter of those two options being highly embarrassing, I hoped that I was in a coma. Not that I _wanted_ to be in a coma, obviously, but it seemed to definitely be the better choice. Thankfully, the coma seemed the most likely of the two, seeing as I definitely remembered a storm, a tent with a metal pole in it, and a flash of light.

Suddenly a huge grin spread across my face. I had just realised that it didn't even matter if I started talking about purple sprouting broccoli being devoured by Elrond's eyebrows, because this wasn't real. Obviously I was still going to try not to say anything like that (especially while in Elrond's presence), because this little dream of mine was going to turn into a nightmare if everyone hated me; I am the sort of person who needs to be liked. I didn't need attention from people 24/7, but I needed to know that people liked me. I couldn't stand knowing that there were some people out there who absolutely hated me for no reason, and I never managed to change their minds.

"Please do share the joke with us, we would love to hear it," said a fairly unfriendly voice. I then realised that I'd been sitting there, thinking about life, the universe, and Elrond's eyebrows, straight after saying 'Hiya Elrond!' to the aforementioned Elf lord.

The voice did not belong to Elrond, however, and I looked at the door to see three blonde elves standing in the doorway. Suspicion and distrust were practically etched across their faces in flashing neon ink. So I decided that I had said my last crazy comment for the day. Well, until I found Caeli. Then the stupidness would flow forth. Okay okay OKAY, I had said my last crazy comment until these guys stopped staring at me as if I had just escaped the dungeons of Barad-dur.

When _that_ thought arrived in my mind, all hope for seeming sane was lost, as was my vow to stop saying STUPID things.

"Look, I KNOW that my nose is grotesque, but I promise you that I was not tortured by Sauron in the depths of Barad-dur, okay the heights of it but whatever, by having my nose pulled. And I really hope you guy don't know the story of Pinocchio, because if you do then you're probably planning to stick me in the dungeons."

Hmm. Hands up who thinks I shouldn't have mentioned Sauron or Barad-dur? Seeing as I didn't know what year or even age it was here? Seeing as it is quite possible that they believed that Sauron was destroyed when he was defeated at the hands of the Last Alliance on the slopes of Orodruin? Seeing as maybe they thought that he was still in Dol Guldur in Mirkwood? Seeing as they would really rather like to know how the hell I knew of Barad-dur? I think that the majority vote would be that I should be gagged.

"Ehhhhhh…." blondie numero uno looked surprised, confused, shocked, and utterly devoid of intelligence.

_Oh my god I just shocked an elf into totally incoherent non-speech! Well, I suppose that if he can't speak, he also can't tell his friends to beat me up for being rude to an immortal being._

I decided that the best thing to do would to retreat. However, the only place I had was under the covers. Which didn't get me anywhere, except my head level would be slightly more towards the middle of the planet. Actually, _was_ middle earth actually a planet, I wondered. Or was the world actually flat, like people used to believe back home.

At the thought of home, I realised that I was ill or maybe even.. dead? I imagined my family and friends sitting around a hospital bed, and they were all sadly looking down at my body, which was still and full of tubes leading out to machines. Then I imagined that Caeli was having the same hallucination as me and we were both really talking to each other in our dreams, because as we had both been in our tent, she would probably have been injured just as I was. Then I imagined that we had died. I saw two hearses pull up to the cemetery together, and a coffin was lifted out of each one. One of the coffins was covered in beautiful white jasmine, and had a wreath of pink and yellow roses on it, which had a single red rose in the middle of it. The other one was decorated with lilies and trailing ivy. The coffin with lilies had a single red tulip on it, and I recognised it as my favourite flower. I watched as both coffins were sadly buried, and slowly reopened my eyes to the room of hostile elves. My vision was blurry, and I realised that I had tears running down my face. I blinked them out of my eyes, and sighed.

All I wanted to do was curl up on the bed and cry, but under the gaze of so many unfriendly faces, I realised that doing that was a temptation I couldn't give in to. I tried again to blink away the tears, and smiled half-heartedly at the blurry person who used the edge of the sheet to wipe my eyes. I guessed that they weren't exactly used to having strange crying females to deal with.

I noticed that the elves were retreating, backing away from the circle they had created around my bed, and wondered why. One of them seemed unwilling to leave, and I thought that this was the one that had demanded that I 'share the joke.' He stopped near the door, and began to protest slightly.

"Lord Elrond, I really think that you shouldn't be alone with this… girl. We do not know that she is not a spy of Sauron. She could be dangerous," he complained.

"And Erestor, I really think that seeing as she is unarmed, she will not be a danger to me. Please leave us for now. And as for knowing who she is, I doubt that she will tell a whole group of elves, especially ones who she has good reason to believe do not trust her and would not believe her story anyway." And then he said something in Elvish that I didn't understand.

_Haha. Up yours, library guy. Wait, did Elrond just insult me? Oh, who cares. I don't suppose it was meant as an insult anyway._

The only reason that I didn't bother saying something to Erestor along the lines of 'dolle laa nost" (your head is empty) was that I currently had such a big lump in my throat from trying to hold back my tears that I couldn't talk properly. Although, the tears didn't stop the stupid comment parade from marching on. It just found someone else to endorse it. This time, the implied stupid comment did not come from my mouth. It came from a very unexpected place, in fact.

"And so the shooer shooed the shooees out of the room, and thus the fourth age of the shooment began."

I recognised this as being a slightly idiotic version of Frodo's voice near the end of Return of the King. That, I could imagine Elrond saying. Not some garbled thing about shooing people away!

"Huh?" I said in a muffled voice, not quite understanding how Lord Elrond could come up with something like that. I mean, that was something CAELI could have said, or I might have said, even Elrond's EYEBROWS might have said! But not Elrond himself!

"Oh, nothing. I believe that I have spent too much time hearing you talk in your sleep. May I inquire as to your interest in purple sprouting broccoli, the one-eyed monkey man and, uh, various eyebrows?"

_Oh s…. sugar. Various eyebrows presumably means his left eyebrow and his right eyebrow. Oops._

"I don't know, Lord Elrond, I was asleep."

"Well, rather than have a discussion about on Arda you were talking about, may I enquire as to why you suddenly stopped talking to us and then began crying?"

I didn't know what to say. I mean, talking about one's imaginary funeral is something quite personal, I always think. But then, this was Elrond, and if you can't trust him to not laugh at you then there sure aren't many people you can trust.

"I, um, was imagining what happened to me. I don't know what happened to me so I was trying to work out what exactly happened." I was sure that when I said this, Elrond's eyes went slightly wide and he had the appearance of someone trying to figure something out.

"Yes, and what did you see?"

"I saw – I imagined - myself in hospital, and I was unconscious. Then I imagined that I died. Me and my friend, both of us, and we had the same funeral."

I began crying again at the mere memory of what my imagination had created, and vaguely I realised that Elrond had gotten up from where he was sitting on the end of the bed and had come over to where I was to give me a hug. Somehow I felt as if he knew how upset the imagination of my death was to me, even though as an elf he had no prospects of dying anytime soon.

"I understand it can be horrible to see one's own death, whether real or imaginary, but I can assure you that it is always possible to come to terms with this."

_Well, I have NO idea what THAT was supposed to mean, but he's good for crying on._

You have no idea how happy I was to look up and see Caeli standing in the doorway, very much alive. She ran over and gave me a big hug, which finally assured me that she was not dead, because she was standing right there.

Caeli's POV 

"Ariel! You're awake!" I exclaimed happily "How long has it been since you woke up?" I asked giving her a big hug.

"I…Caeli…I…can't b…breathe…" she said in a small croaky voice. I immediately released her. The poor girl had just woken up in a strange place feeling probably completely confused and then I go and half kill her!

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, are you ok?" I said taking a few quick steps back.

She took a deep breath before answering "That's better, I'm fine now, almost fainted again but I'm fine,"

"I'm so-" I began to repeat, but Elrond, (who I had almost totally forgotten was in the room with us and consequentially witnessed me almost killing Ariel – not a good thing when I was trying to convince him we weren't spies) interrupted.

"I think I will leave you two girls alone, there are people I must speak to urgently." he said and with a nod of his head he left the room, silently closing the door behind him.

"Probably gone to discuss ways of disposing of us with Erestor." I said gloomily and sat crossed legged on the end of Ariel's bed.

"You know Erestor?" she asked pulling up the blankets all around her so that all I could see was her face.

"Yeah, he was the one that told me you were awake. Well actually he didn't tell me that you were awake he told me that my 'fellow spy' had sadly gained consciousness, and I assumed he meant you." I said smiling.

"Hmmm, he was wasting away his immortal life in here just now, Elrond had to shoo him. How long have I been asleep?" she suddenly asked.

"An hour or two, it didn't take us long to get here, I've spent most of my time waiting in here for you to wake up, I don't think anyone quite knows what to do with me. Glorfindel just vaguely told me there are some gardens that I might be interested in and then he kinda scurried of and I haven't seen Legolas since we arrived - oh that reminds me, you'll never guess who gallantly carried you to Rivendell!" I said grinning; I couldn't wait for her reaction although I figured it was entirely possible that she could pass out again if she knew.

"Your joking," she said, her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Nope!"

"No, really you are,"

"No, really I'm not"

"Oh my god!"

"Yup"

"Legolas!"

"He was ever so worried that you would object to him carrying you, but I assured him he had no reason to worry, I hope I was right," I said sarcastically.

"Your lying, Legolas carrying me to Rivendell would just be too good," she said looking at me so suspiciously I almost felt it my duty to be offended.

"Yes actually I am lying," I admitted. Then her face turned from suspicion to absolute rage, it was almost funny, almost.

"How could you?" she cried and grabbing her pillow started violently hitting me with it.

"No, no I was joking!" I protested rolling off the side if her bed "Legolas really did carry you!" she paused confused as if not quite sure whether to be happy again or cross with me and in that time I grabbed the other pillow from her bed.

"Pillow fight!" we both shouted at once and began attacking each other with Rivendell's best, fluffiest pillows.

"So, do you think we really are in Middle earth?" asked Ariel delivering a particularly hard blow as she jumped off her bed.

"I dunno we could be dreaming," I said ducking under her pillow.

"What like the same dream?" she asked lifting her pillow high up to come crashing down but I saw it first.

"Yeah" I said and hit her in the face. "Or we could be really here in Middle earth, what ever way," I said trying to pull my pillow away since she had somehow managed to grab hold of it, "we may as well make the most of it" I finished and still hadn't managed to get my pillow back.

"Do you even know what age it is though?" she said from the other end of the pillow that we were fighting over.

"No, but wait a moment," we both still held onto MY pillow "Ok, ok!" I relented "Truce for a moment?" I asked dropping my end and holding my hands up in the signal for surrender before running over to the door and opening it. "Are there any lovely people out there who would give me the date?" I called out to no one in particular and hoping no one would decided that asking for the date meant I was a highly dangerous criminal who should be locked up at one.

Luckily for me, no one did, but someone shouted "July 4th 3018"

"Thank you!" I called back and closed the door again.

"How did you know that would work, you probably just made people even more suspicious of us!" accused Ariel, still holding the pillows.

"Nah, I think elves are naturally trusting creatures, if someone asks the date, someone asks the date, they don't know that I'm not an elf do they?" I said with a triumphant grin on my face.

"Suppose not," she answered, but still looked doubtful "So this is a few months before the council of Elrond isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, the party in the Shire hasn't even happened yet, actually your probably lucky that Legolas is here,"

"Yes, I am, very lucky!" she said, then started up the pillow fight again but this time she had two pillows and I had none, talk about unfair. Then I remembered, there would be two pillows on my bed as well. Elrond had shown me where I could 'rest' when I came to check on Ariel, there was another half of the room just beyond the wooden screen.

I ran over to it whilst being whacked repeatedly by Ariel who seemed to think the fact that I didn't have a pillow and she had two all great fun. I moved the screen aside a bit and rushed over to my bed and grabbed the two pillows on my bed and then ran back to Ariel's room.

"Hey, where did you get those?" she asked incredulously.

"My bed behind the screen" I laughed spinning my two pillows at Ariel's two, but alas, the revelation that Elrond had thought that I might need somewhere to sleep didn't make her drop her guard as I was hoping and she copied me spinning her own pillows, the result of which as that our pillows twisted around each other and got tangled.

We both laughed, it happened a lot. We untangled our pillows and began again.

Amazingly the pillows never lost their shape. "Must be special elvish cotton," commented Ariel after about fifteen minutes.

"Yeah" I agreed slightly breathlessly as I viciously hit at the thin air where she had been a moment ago.

More time past and our hair and general appearance became increasingly dishevelled as we endured more hits from our opponent's pillow.

Suddenly the door opened and two elves stepped in. Sadly, Ariel's back was to the door and she didn't notice and, in one of her most classic (and usually highly powerful) combos - the 'spin and hit' she managed to spin and hit one of the elves squarely one the nose. Of course once she realised she had hit something solid which wasn't meant to be behind her she stopped fairly quickly.

So this was the scene: Ariel and I were both clutching two pillows each. Our hair could have easily been mistaken for lion's manes, my jumper had come half way (good news: there was a vest beneath; bad news: it was my rainbow stripped one). Ariel was in a nighty. We were both bright red from over exertion and of course we both had expressions that spoke of our stupidity for us. Great.

The two (male) immortals stared at us. And we two (female) mortals stared at them.

Then the two elves burst out laughing. It was then I realised (and yeah it did take me that long) that they both looked the same. Ariel and I looked at each other then both exclaimed "The twins!"

"And you I take it," said the twin that was hit in the nose "are the spies,"

"Whoa pillow fight!" said the other, laughing uncontrollably. "May we join in?"

"We're supposed to be questioning them brother!" scolded the first elf.

"Yeah, of course you can join in!" I said and I tossed one of my pillows to him and Ariel threw one of her pillows to the other elf.

"Team spy versus team twin!" announced Ariel.

And with that, we began.

At first team spy seemed to be winning, team twin had obviously underestimated the energy of the two teenage girls that made up team spy. But soon team twin had the upper hand, after all they were very strong and had reflexes like I can't describe. It was like one moment they were in front of you and the next moment they were behind you, but then again, it could have been the other twin, it was soo confusing. I don't know how Elrond coped!

"Look! There's a tall skinny dwarf out the window!" I suddenly called to try and divert the twins' attention for a second (yes a classic I know, but I figured it might work on elves) after having been battered particularly hard by one of the twins. The said twin stopped and looked out of the window as did the twin that was currently trying to suffocate Ariel. Sadly, Ariel also looked out of the window for signs of the dwarf, which rather spoilt the effect.

However, it did give me time to jump on Ariel's bed to give me some height, after all, the twins were a lot taller than me, I mean I'm not a midget or anything but still, elves are tall!

"Ariel, get on the bed!" I called jumping up and down on it as the elves slowly realised that there was no tall skinny dwarf. And, all credit to her, Ariel did actually realise what I was doing a long time before the twins did.

Ariel climbed on the bed with me and also started jumping up and down. From this height pulverising team twin was a lot easier.

"Hey, that's not fair!" cried one of the twins in dismay.

"Nothing's fair!" shouted Ariel shouted back whilst jumping so high I was vaguely worried she might hit the ceiling.

"Right that's enough!" called the elf I was swatting below me and jumped on the bed.

"You not supposed to do that!" I said accusingly as the other one followed suit "You're supposed to be dignified, you're sons of Elrond!"

"I think we stopped being dignified the moment we entered the room," he replied successfully knocking my pillow out of my hands.

"Ariel help!" I called desperately as my vision was filled with white pillow.

"I can't, I've got to deal with the other elf or I'll turn into Ariel purée, I'm sure I've already got bruises all over my body!" she laughed, "Here's your pillow though she said throwing it at me. I caught it and blocking his pillow with one hand whacked my assailant hard on the face with it.

"Owww!"

"You actually got an elf to say 'owww'?" asked Ariel fending off her elf.

"I did indeed!" I replied.

"Woohoo!" she shouted and we jumped one big jump of celebration and landed not very elegantly on our backs. However the effect of us both landing on the same part of the bed at the same time seemed to have see-saw effect on the twin's half of the bed. They were catapulted into the air simultaneously and again, very inelegantly landed on top of us.

At that moment the door opened and Erestor walked in.

Now you probably think (as we did) all we were doing was very innocent – the twins had accidentally landed on top of us. They were laughing and apologising and we were just laughing to hard to say anything.

But you have to see this from Erestor's perspective. Two male elves were on top of us both on Ariel's bed, pillows everywhere our hair (and clothes) totally messed up. Yes, it looked WRONG!

The twins only noticed Erestor's presence once they had rolled off the bed.

Erestor's expression: priceless.

"You two! Out of here now!" he commanded, his face set in stone.

"You can't tell us what to-" began one of the twins.

"Do you want me to tell your father that I found you both in unseemly positions on top of two girls, be they spies or not?" said Erestor threateningly. Silence. "Then get out now." he finished. Both elves left immediately but not without giving us both apologetic glances before leaving. Erestor left last, slamming the door behind him.

Reviewer Responses – responses to chapter 1's reviews as well here, we were trying so get the second chapter done fast so we totally forgot last time sorry!

Ellenath: Glad you enjoyed! Thanx for reviewing

ChirikoFan: All we can say is there shall be love! Between who….you'll have to continue reading to find out.

Pippin's Hyper Little Mushrom : Well, we hope they'll be lots more lovely cliffies for you to savour! Btw, we both think your name is sooooooo cute!

XoGiggles: 26 babies? hmmmm it would be slightly more than freaky….lol! Ariel, Caeli, what do you two think? silence I think I scared them…

randomrohanfreak: We know your not flaming, we love constructive criticism thanks. About the legomance…hmmm…I think a certain someone might disagree with you on that but we know what you mean, there are loads of very cheesy legomances out there, we may or may not write a legomance but if we do it won't be cheesy – it will be more belgian chocolaty: sweet but of very high quality!

It's too late for the first chapt but we will take up your advice and include more description in the story by showing!

silverfox: do you like marmite? or are you just celebrating the fact that you hate it? (sometimes its good to love to hate) hope you enjoyed it!

Animebishieluver: yay go females :D

Navaer Lalaith: thanks for the tips, we appreciate them:) we do have a reason for why they understand Westron which will be explained later on. But thanks anyway :)

enyamorntuilr: I agree, Glorfy rules! As for the romance, one of our characters is definitely hoping that the story'll go that way ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Ariel: As you may have guessed by now, I have escaped from the depths of Ala and Tin's imaginations to bring you your favourite part of the story, the DISCLAIMER!

Tin: GET BACK HERE NOW, O FOUL SPAWN OF MY IMAGINATION!

Caeli: runs past you know, she's basically you only her name isn't Tinuviel, so stop insulting yourself, ok?

Ala: ARGH NOT ANOTHER REBEL! GET BACK HERE NOW, O IMAGINARY ANNOYING BRAT!

Ariel: note what Caeli says occasionally. I know that most of the time she talks nonsense, but now and then she's right. ducks slap from Caeli

Tin: Caeli, I think there was a compliment in that, disguised as an insult. I know my creation well, you know. I can tell real insults from compliments.

Erestor: delighted grin well actually, o great authoresses, I would like to inform you about certain indiscretions involving the two spies, they..

Ala: yawn whatever.

Tin: Isn't this supposed to be a disclaimer? You know, I think it's time that Gollum got some screen time.

Gollum: Tolkien owns everything. I don't own anything. But its MINE! MY OWN! MY PRECIOUSSSSSS! get whapped by Caeli Oh alright, none of it's mine. gets whapped by Alatar and Tinuviel ok, they own Ariel and Caeli.

Ghost of Tolkien: I own Gollum, even though Eru knows why I admit to that… ghostbusters arrive and remove Tolkien, thus ending this overlong disclaimer

**Chapter 4**

**Ariel POV**

_Wow. I bet Erestor practices his if-looks-could-kill-you-would-be-six-feet-under glare. I mean, even I can't glare as if pure, undiluted acid was spewing from my eyeballs. I can only manage pure, undiluted vinegar. I am going to have to get revenge on that bloody elf for having a worse glare than I do._

I sighed. The pillow fight with Elladan and Elrohir had been a lot of fun and had pushed the depression out of my mind for a while, but I was feeling kind of sad again ever since Erestor had come in at what was definitely _not_ the opportune moment. Elrond had come back to see how I was doing, and shooed Caeli away, probably he thought that as I looked angry there was an imminent catfight. Presumably she'd gone to find the twins and apologise.

"How are you doing now? You seemed angry at something a minute ago." Oh dear. What was the best way to tell Elrond what Erestor had just presumed that Caeli and myself were doing with his sons?

"Erm.. I was having a pillow fight with Caeli and then your sons came in and basically to cut a long story short they fell over and they, um, fell on top of us actually by accident, and Erestor came in and he, um, presumed that we weren't exactly having a pillow fight and made the twins go before we could explain." I blushed, as it was slightly embarrassing to explain this to Elrond. Well, it wouldn't have been that embarrassing if Elrond hadn't been the twin's father.

"I shall explain that to Erestor then when I see him next then." Elrond looked as if he was trying not to ruin his 'Elf Lord' image by laughing at me. "However, as glad as I am to see that you have enough energy to engage in pillow fights, I would say that it would be much easier for your body to heal if you conserved your energy by staying in bed."

_Riiiight. Why does my body need to heal? It's not like I'm ill. I just managed to faint right on schedule, just like I always wanted to. Methinks that it's time to find out why on earth – make that Middle Earth – anyway, why we're here._

"Erm, Lord Elrond, why does my body need to heal? I mean, it's not like I'm ill. I just happened to fulfil my lifelong wish of fainting when I want to, that's all, and that should make me not ill because I have control of what my body does." I managed to stop babbling. Not in a dignified way, you understand. I had shoved my hand in my mouth. And then I realised how stupid I must have looked to Elrond, and promptly started laughing, which caused me to choke on my hand.

"I'm not completely crazy, I promise, I'm just hyper from the pillow fight, and so maybe I should calm down now before you throw me in the dungeons or wherever you're planning to throw me." Elrond gave me an odd look, but I barely noticed it, because I'd had so many odd looks in my lifetime that I think that I'd developed a natural immunity to them by then.

"And why would I be planning to throw you in the dungeons? Have you done anything to deserve being put in there, in which case I would like you to describe the evil deeds to me right now?"

_Oops. I think that I just destroyed any hope that me and Caeli had of being trusted here._

"I haven't done anything that deserves being locked up, unless you're counting what Erestor THINKS me and Caeli were doing, but no one around here seems to trust us, so I'm guessing that I'm guilty until proven innocent, right?"

"Pardon?"

_I guess elves don't have any variation of the phrase 'innocent until proven guilty.' Although seeing as he has his magic ring Vilya to help him out whenever, I would have thought that Lord Elrond could have worked it out._

I decided to clarify what I'd just said.

"I meant that everyone around here believes that we're spies, and that unless one of us manages some amazing feat that doesn't involve hair straightners, nail polish, or the one-eyed one-toed rhinoceros with orange sparkly stripes, you lot are going to keep on believing that we're spies."

I watched Elrond's face as I said this, and the look of confusion that kept growing with the mention of hair straighteners and nail polish brought a big banana grin to my face. But that look couldn't compare to the look on his face when I mentioned the one-eyed one-toed rhinoceros with orange sparkly stripes. THAT look plainly said 'HUH?' Right then, I had to restrain myself from doing a victory dance. Weird? Yup, but it's not everyone that can make a six-thousand year old, ring-of-power-wielding elf go 'HUH?' I decided then and there that my goal for being in Middle Earth was to make this happen again as many times as possible, because the Eyebrows just really did not look right with the blank, vacant expression.

Once Elrond's brain had taken a few moments to input this statement, process it, and then reject it totally as complete and utter rubbish, he decided to ignore the part about the hair straigheners, nail polish, and the one-eyed-one-toed-orange-sparkly-striped rhinoceros, and just focused on the rest of what I'd said.

"Well, unless you give me a reason to, I have no current plans to throw you in the dungeons. And now I would like you to tell me the location of England, and why both you and Caeli were so unwilling to believe that Prince Legolas and Lord Glorfindel were who they are."

_Whaaaaat? How does he know that I come from England? If Caeli told him that much, why hasn't she told him that we don't know why we're here? Oh dear, methinks that the cloud-coloured cabbage patch dolls have been conspiring against me to make life/death/hallucination hard for me. Thanks a lot, Eru up there._

"Um, I'm really not sure that you'll believe me when I say this, but I have no idea where England is, despite the fact that you appear to know that that is where I live. Well, I do know where England is, even what longitude it's at although most people know that because it's fairly obvious, but I don't actually know where it is now."

"You mean that you have forgotten where it lies on the map? You have fainted, remember, you may have hit your head."

"No, I know where it lies on the map. But not on any of the maps that can be found anywhere apart from where I come from, I don't think." I was not making sense to Elrond and we both knew it. He was probably exceptionally confused. Hell, so was I. It was so hard to explain this that I was confusing myself with my terrible explanation. To be honest, I didn't really want to tell anyone about home until Caeli was here to explain it with me. Also, I didn't know what she'd said about our world, and I didn't want her to get into trouble.

The Eyebrows were furrowed, trying to work out what in the name of polka dot warthogs I was saying.

"Maybe you should start at the beginning, go on through the middle, and stop when you get to the end." I sighed in relief. I sent a quick prayer of thanks up to all the Middle Earthen deities that I could think of, and a couple that I invented for good measure, for sending Caeli, plus the twins, back here just when I needed them. And I also appreciated the maimed quote from Lewis Carroll. Both me and Caeli had a bad habit of reading books, vaguely remembering quotes of the good bits of the story, half-forgetting them, and beginning to use the quotes in everything we said.

Before I could say anything along the lines of 'thank you thank you thank you for indulging my childish like of your clichéd habit of turning up whenever I need to', one of the twins interrupted me to practically fall at his father's feet and beg.

"Father, I don't know what Erestor has told you about us, but if he has told you anything or if he does later, it isn't true and he just saw things in the wrong light and please don't believe it…" Elrond looked at me, I looked at Elrond, and we shared a glance which said 'let's let them grovel for a while.'

_I never knew an Elf Lord could be so much fun. What with his patented 'HUH?' looks and his apparent love of tormenting his sons and my friend, I have a funny feeling that we're going to get along pretty well._

"As a matter of fact, I did talk to Erestor earlier today. I believe that he is not particularly happy with you four, and the reasons for this have been explained to me," Elrond said, with a glare at all of us. Although, as I was sitting behind his back, when he turned round to glare at me he winked at me, and only many hours of practise at looking innocent let me restrain my laughter.

_Sneaky Elf! I think I've found a good friend :D_

"Father, it's not what you think…" gasped Elladan.

"Father, please listen to us…" grovelled Elrohir.

"Lord Elrond, I can explain…" whined Caeli.

Again, Elrond turned round to look at me, one eyebrow raised. I took this to mean 'shall we let them off the hook yet?' and shook my head, pretending to be too scared to speak. A smirk flashed across his face momentarily, then disappeared when he turned again to scowl at his sons. Both twins looked as if they were currently debating whether to run or to face their father's wrath for something that they had not actually done. Caeli's gaze was shifting back and forth from the door to the window, and she was clearly contemplating whether she'd make it out of Rivendell alive if she ran fast enough. Me? I was sitting on the bed with my knees folded up against me as if I was trying to do a hedgehog and curl up in a circle, and I was shaking as if terrified of Elrond's feigned anger. Of course, I was actually fighting one of those huge laughs that begin in your stomach and go right up to your mouth and are practically possible to hold in. My shoulders were shaking with the huge effort.

"I suggest that one of you four tell me right now why I should not believe my chief advisor and friend's word."

_I can't hold this in much longer… and I can't talk to warn him because if I open my mouth then I'll laugh until my sides hurt, by which time the rest of me will hurt because they'll have killed me. It's times like right now that I really wish that I could do Galadriel's telepathy thing… would be so useful… oh well. I think that's one of those wishes that come under the category 'TOUGH. YOU AIN'T GETTING IT.' And have a couple of bouncers loitering around, ready to injure you for trying to get what you want._

"Well?" The three miscreants stared at him, and so did I, willing him to finish the joke quickly so that I didn't ruin it. His gaze swept over all of us, seemingly daring us to insult Erestor, and I desperately tried to signal to him with my eyes that I couldn't reign in my laughter any longer. Thankfully, he took a look at my face, glared at the rest of them, and released me from the agony of trying not to laugh with a simple speech.

"I and Ariel will be going to my study to continue our conversation. I expect the three of you to have a good excuse – er, explanation – by the time that I return. And I trust that nothing will happen to reinforce Erestor's opinion on what was happening." And with that I hopped off the bed, trying my best to look as if it was Christians versus lions day in Rivendell and Elrond was the one with the claws.

As soon as the door shut, I collapsed in silent laughter, nearly hitting the floor until Elrond caught me. He beckoned for me to get away from the door before I inadvertently turned the volume up, alerting them to the fact that we had been playing a joke on them all along. We managed to get into the garden before I collapsed in hysterical laughter. Elrond, being a graceful Elf Lord and was therefore not prone to mad lunacies such as being doubled up with mirth, sat down gracefully and chuckled happily at having played such a successful trick on his two sons, who (if the fanfictions that I'd read back on Earth were to be believed) spent most of their time playing tricks on him.

We sat on the grass laughing for at least twenty minutes until we finally calmed down enough to notice that we had inadvertently gathered an audience. Erestor and two extremely handsome elves were standing silently near us, eyebrows raised, watching their Lord sitting in the grass and laughing with a crazy human girl who was cracking up laughing like a crazy laughing person. Not that it was that much of a surprise to them that I was laughing like a lunatic, their staring was all directed at Elrond. I guess he hadn't really been a ray of sunshine since Celébrian was captured by orcs.

"Ummm, my Lord?" said the best-looking elf. He looked rather familiar, and I found myself wondering if he had been in the films.

_Waait a minute. Those eyes are familiar. I seem to remember them staring at me once before, just after I removed the towel from my face (that incident will haunt me til the day I die). I remember, he was saying something that I didn't believe._

_HOLY SHIT!_

_THAT'S LEGOLAS!_

"Oh, hello, Legolas. Um, was there something you wanted?"

"Umm no, my Lord. We just heard noise coming from this garden and thought that we should see if you were alright."

"In other words, you came to see if I had gone insane or not?" I rolled my eyes. No need for him to embarrass the poor pointy-eared princeling any more. Although, I was in a mood to find anything funny.

Once they were assured that Elrond was not insane, just contaminated with the crazy laughing syndrome, they deigned to look at me. Let me tell you here and now: I did NOT appreciate their stares, blushes, and instantly averted eyes.

_Uh, what is THAT about? I never knew I was so ugly that just looking at me could burn eyes out…. Those guys are on something. Possibly cocaine. And I really do not think that they like me. At all._

I looked at them, at Elrond, who looked equally confused, and then down at myself. Then I realised why the three elves were so embarrassed. I was wearing my favourite nightie, grey with a picture of a cat on the front, and it was quite tight. It wasn't particularly short, but definitely too short for Middle Earth inhabitants. Plus, I had a funny feeling that what I was wearing was basically underwear around here.

_Hmm. If Erestor starts talking about me, I am going to have a REALLY bad reputation around here in about no seconds flat. First he finds me and my best friend lying underneath one of the Lord of Rivendell's sons while looking all messed up, secondly he finds me in a garden with the Lord of Rivendell himself, while wearing underwear. Great._

"Oh." I said out loud, realising just what Erestor thought of me. And what he thought of me was definitely not complimentary.

"We were celebrating a most successful trick that we played on my sons and Ariel's friend, actually. In fact, I think that some wine would be excellent right now, don't you all think?" Elrond had obviously realised what Erestor thought, too, and evidently didn't want that rumour to even start. Which was good, because neither did I.

"Sorry? What was that, father? I don't think I heard you quite correctly," said a voice from behind me. Funnily enough, the voice did not sound at all happy. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it sounded positively angry.

_Stupid phrase. Why is being angry positive? Shouldn't it be negatively angry? Oh god, shut up brain. Two of God's finest creations (Legolas and the other one… was his name Glorfindel? Or am I confused) are standing in front of me, presumably thinking that I am a complete whore and also completely crazy, and all I can think about is why people say 'positively angry'. There is something seriously wrong with me._

I looked at Legolas, Erestor and Glorfindel, observing a smirk upon each face, and turned around. Above me and Elrond stood three very tall, very angry people. I shared an identical 'uh oh' look with Elrond, and slowly began to shrink away.

_At least I don't have elven ears_ I thought, as Caeli, Elladan, and Elrohir began shouting at us in unison.

Caeli's POV 

Elladan was shouting something about not being able to believe he couldn't trust his father.

Elrohir was shouting something about the deep emotional distress he had gone through for nothing.

And me? I was shouting something about how I was never going to talk to Ariel ever again, ever.

I wasn't even just shouting her cause I felt she should learn a lesson it was a combination of that, feeling cheated that I had placed my trust in Elrond lord of Rivendell and feeling truly offended that my best friend at gone behind my back and plotted against me with a stranger. Oh, and maybe just a little teenage hysteria, I've always had an annoying curse of feeling how those around me are feeling and the twins anger was rubbing of on me big time.

Yes, maybe I was over exaggerating a l-i-t-t-l-e. But at the time that's how it felt however small the situation was, my teenage female brain blew it way out of proportion. I stormed off.

I walked through the gardens of Rivendell thoroughly ANNOYED. When I thought I was far enough away from the group to be seen and to hear myself think I plonked down on the beautiful grass of Rivendell resting against a tree trunk. _Ok, breathe deeply, concentrate on your breath._ I had read somewhere that meditation could relax even the most stressed up teen. So far, it had never worked but I figured that Rivendell was a very much more relaxing place than school and it might work.

I closed my eyes. _Banish negative thoughts…how could Ariel do this to me?…Be at one with the world…and Elrond too!..Listen to the bird song…_ I did listen to the bird song, and the leaves rustling gently as the wind passed through them. The rustling though seemed to be getting a louder, nearer. Then it stopped. Silence. _Ok it's nothing it's your imagination, just breathe, calm down._ It actually worked. If anyone wants to know Rivendell is a great place for meditation.

I was in a deep state of calm (and almost asleep) when I noticed there was someone there. I hadn't opened my eyes; I could just sense it. I remembered someone explaining to me that we can sometimes sense people without seeing them. By hearing very soft noises and slight changes in temperature, to slight for our brains to register much but our subconscious does and tells us that there is someone there, like an alarm system left over from caveman days.

Anyway, cavewoman or not I knew there was someone in front of me. But I really didn't want to start a long conversation involving brainpower, I felt too peaceful, too sleepy. My thoughts gently floated together to trying and formulate a single word or sound that would make this person leave me alone. After much internal battling I settled on:

"Hmm"

"I didn't mean to disturb you," said the voice ever so softly and carefully. It was a male voice. My brain slowly realised that this didn't exactly narrow it down a lot. Whoever it was he had a lovely soft gentle voice that really didn't disturb my trance like state at all. Must be an elf. Again, doesn't narrow it down a lot.

"Who are you?" I whispered without moving a muscle, keeping my eyes closed.

"Glorfindel." sad the voice simply, but still in that soft calming voice. I opened my eyes, it had to happen sometime. Sure enough, Glorfindel was sitting in front of me, legs crossed, just like mine, looking as calm as the waves on the shores of Valinor itself.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," he repeated. It was almost like a mantra. I smiled at him.

"Its ok," I said peacefully, "I just needed to calm down. I'm not a pretty site when I'm hyped up."

"I've heard teenaged mortals are even worse than teenaged immortals, must be quite bad." Glorfindel said softly. I just smiled. In normal situations I would have laughed at him comment, but now I felt too peaceful. I felt laugher had past between us anyway, silently. We understood.

"Do you often control your breathing to calm yourself in this way?" he asked. His face was almost unreadable, a picture of total calm sitting on the grass opposite me.

"I try," I answered, and smiled again, "Usually, it doesn't work."

"Rivendell is a very calming place." Glorfindel commented quietly. I nodded my agreement.

We sat in silence again for a while and I closed my eyes again.

I listened to the sounds of the summer Rivendell, the birds I had never heard before, water rippling over the rocks of another world, the distant voices of immortal beings. _What am I doing here? _I wondered _I should be in New Zealand in my tent, waiting for the rain to end._

"Do you think we're spies Glorfindel?" I asked quietly.

"You've given me no reason to. I think it unlikely that were you really spies you would draw so much attention to yourself by arriving in such a manner seemingly from nowhere and dressed in such strange garb." he answered.

"Who do you think we are then?" I asked. I opened my eyes to find Glorfindel looking at me curiously.

"I believe you are from where you say you are and your coming here must be an accident. A tear perhaps, in the fabric of our two different worlds." he said all this so calming and confidently as if girls randomly appearing of other worlds were a daily occurrence. I looked at him quizzically and he seemed to read my mind.

"I have lived for a long time. I've learned that trying to figure things out that are beyond our comprehension is a waste time. You are here, present in front of me, you cannot go home, I cannot send you home. If you feel you are here for a reason, I will do everything in my power to help you, beyond that, there is nothing I can do." I looked into his eyes and saw the simple truth of his words. We couldn't go home, no one could send us home. My heart rate started to increase and my breath came quicker. We couldn't get home. _We can't get home._

Glorfindel seemed to notice I was starting to panic but did nothing though I saw the pity in his eyes. _Nothing he can do._ I took some deep breaths to calm myself again.

A bird flew down from above us, hovered for awhile as if considering us both and then went to perch on Glorfindel's shoulder. The bird was small, it reminded me of a sparrow. It had short brown feathers and deep black eyes. It gazed mournfully at me from Glorfindel's shoulder and was completely still for a whole minute. Then it stretched its wings and flew off, far into the cloudless blue sky.

After a while Glorfindel spoke again.

"Lord Elrond never wished to upset you. I doubt that your friend Ariel did either."

"I know," I said looked down at my hands clasped in my lap, "I overreacted." I looked back up at him and added, "I don't say that very often so remember it."

"I will." he said smiling.

"We should get back to the others. They'll be worrying about you." he said and gracefully got to his feet and helped me up.

I yawned and stretched before following Glorfindel back the way we had come from.

Everyone still seemed to be in the same places, still arguing. Elrohir and Elladan were arguing with Elrond and Erestor was arguing with Ariel (who was shouting back) and Legolas (bless his little bottle of blonde shampoo) looked confused as to who's side to be on.

I could hear Ariel shouting "WELL IT'S NOT MY FAULT! DO YOU THINK I ASKED TO COME HERE DRESSED LIKE THIS? I – CAELI!" she exclaimed when she saw me. She rushed over to me and then started talking very fast.

"I'm really sorry, I honestly didn't mean to upset you you just kinda burst into my room with Elladan and Elrohir and you were so funny and we just couldn't resist the temptation of teasing you it was only a joke!" she paused to take a deep breath and then continued twice as fast "and now Erestor thinks god knows what of me because I'm standing outside in my nighty and they probably thinks that's like something like underwear for us because you've seen the really long dresses people here seem to wear all the time and he won't believe that I can't help how I'm dressed because I came from my tent like this and-"

"Ariel, calm down," I laughed. The effect of Ariel's outburst did seem to have silenced the twins and Elrond though. "I'm ok really, I...overreacted." Had I just admitted overreacting twice in one day? Note to self: only say good things about self when self is in the company of very hot elves. "Now then… maybe you should get changed…"

Reviewer Responses 

Navaer Lalaith: We understand your point about their mother Celebrian, however I needed to elves who were willing to have fun (seeing as there are two of us) so I think the best term to use here is 'poetic license', after all, I believe it would be near impossible to write a girl falls into middle earth story without changing the story and the characters! Another way of explaining the twins behaviour might be to say that they were trying to put their past behind them, they know their mother wouldn't not with them to sent the rest of there days in anger, but rather enjoy their lives. will also plead innocent on one more point: the twins are traditionally fun loving trouble makers in lotr fanfiction and although our story will be as unique as possible it is nice to uphold some well rooted fanfiction traditions! Sadly I have no excuses for the use of 'Grelvish' other than to say that its use was totally unintentional and we believed it to be Tolkien's elvish. Thank you for the links, if we use anymore elvish phrases we will use them. Thanks for your review.

animebishieluver: You know, I really had no clue about Erestor's hair colour, thanks for enlightening me! We might mention that he has brown hair in the next chapters, we shall have to discuss!

angelsfyre1: We shall endeavour to make our chapters more boring in future to prevent such occurrences! Only joking! Were you going anywhere nice? If it was England, I pity you, its FREEZING here! I'm glad you think our character have faults but they're funny because that's exactly the sort of characters we're trying to create, funny but not Mary-sues. Please carry on reviewing, your reviews make us feel good about our attempts at a story!

Slytheren-iz-mine: And you're great for saying so! hands Slytheren-iz-mine crown of greatness thank you!

randomrohanfreak: We are indeed two people I'm Ala (Caeli), we take it in turns to do the responses for each chapt, if I had it my way I'd do all of them because I love writing to our reviews – love you so much! hugs - but sadly I think Tin (Ariel) feels the same way. About the twins, I would like do direct you to my response to Navaer Lalaith's review as she pointed out the same thing about the elves and also as it happens about the sindarin, apparently its 'Grelvish' which we had no idea about, I've forgotten were we got the phrases from, learn them from different places I think and they kinda stick in your mind. The elves are speaking Westron to us and we can mysteriously understand Westeron, either that or its English, you decide!

enyamorntuilr: I've never been particularly creative when it comes to smilies, what does it mean exactly? I hope you like the Glorfindel bit in this chapter! Thanks for reviewing:-D


	5. Chapter 5

Tin: Well, I do indeed believe that it is MY turn to run around screaming for the duration of this disclaimer. /runs round in circles screaming/

Ala: Oh no you don't! I can't manage Ariel for you! I have enough problems keeping hold of Caeli!

Ariel and Caeli: Seeing as the two of you locked us in a CAGE with a FELL BEAST to guard us, the chances of us needing to be 'managed' are not very high. However when you let us go, fear for your lives…..

Ala and Tin/gulp/

Tom Bombadil: Why, I do believe that Tinuviel has stopped running in circles, disturbing the sleep of my precious trees.

Tin: Oops/starts running again/

Ala: Well, it seems that as Tin is… erm… mental, I shall have to call in reinforcements to help me with this disclaimer here.

An escaped Eyebrow: Ala and Tin own themselves, they also own Ariel and Caeli, and they are currently bidding on eBay for me, so… aargh/runs away from angry Elrond/.

One-eyebrowed Elrond: COME BACK HERE MY BELOVED EYEBROW!

Ala: Erm, okaaay… to be honest I don't think that eyebrow would suit me… he can keep it… if he ever catches it.. /snicker/

Tin: Awwww how sweet…. His eyebrow LUVS her! Awwwww!

**Chapter 5**

**Ariel POV**

I stood in front of the mirror in my room, critically examining my hair. Caeli was sat on my bed, examining a pile of clothes which was spread out over nearly every available surface in the room. I wasn't exactly going anywhere special – only dinner – but being around perfect, flawless Elves was not good for my self-confidence. And I had already decided that I was going to wear the most conservative clothes that I had packed for the camping trip. The only problem with that was that it was the middle of summer in New Zealand. Judging by the temperature of my surroundings, the same was true for Middle-Earth, but that's not the point. The only clothes I had packed were… not exactly suitable for Middle-Earth.

"Ariel, why did you only pack jeans, shorts, and a couple of short skirts? Honestly, the Elves are NOT going to approve of any of your stuff. You could have at least planned ahead a bit more practically," sighed Caeli, looking up from her investigation of my pile of clothing.

"Well, funnily enough, I wasn't actually planning to come to Middle-Earth at all! Having my legs showing is perfectly decent back on Earth, and shorts are comfy for travelling around in. And for your information, I did plan my clothing carefully – I brought a dress. Which is wrapped up in my towel," I snapped. I really didn't need the criticism of my choice of clothing. I was perfectly justified in my choice of clothing.

"You brought a dress? And I just spent forty five minutes looking for something you could wear INSTEAD of a dress? And NOW you tell me this?" I was getting seriously annoyed. Did she really think that my dress would be a Middle-earthy type dress?

"For God's sake! I didn't bother telling you because I forgot! And do you really think its some sort of ankle length thing with a veil or something? Get a grip!" My temper snapped and I exploded rudely, loudly, and unfairly at poor Caeli, who was understandably frustrated at not being able to find any suitable clothes.

I ranted for a minute, and then realised how stupid I was being and shut up.

"I'm sorry Caeli. I'm just stressed. I hate not having clothes that I can wear here!" I hadn't noticed the four heads that were anxiously watching my ranting from the door. If I had, I wouldn't have shouted like I did. Well, I would have, but I would have sent them away first. Once I noticed them, I gasped and blushed bright red like a tomato.

_Argh. All I want to do is sulk and miss the meal. Now it appears that I have an audience who will probably make me come to dinner. Yippee. Not._

"Um, Ariel? Are you alright?" said Glorfindel.

_No, bozo, I'm not._

"What were you saying about having nothing to wear? I'm sure that you have… erm… plenty of clothes…" One twin said to me, after staring in astonishment at all the garments scattered around.

"She HAS plenty of clothes, just none that she can WEAR. Clothes are very different back home. And if you don't believe me, I'm sure she will show you," Caeli said, defending me against the raised eyebrows of the four male elves.

"Why don't you show us this dress, Ariel?"

_Oh god. Legolas just has to pipe up when I really need to ignore his presence to escape more multitudes of embarrassment. Thanks a lot mate._

"Fine, if you insist. But don't blame me when you don't like it," I grumbled, locating the dress in my bag and carrying it with me into the bathroom. Once I had changed into it, I actually felt pretty good. It was my good luck dress, the one I'd worn to a couple of special events – my friend's confirmation at church, my cousin's wedding, and now it had travelled here, to Middle-earth.

"Caeli, can you come here a minute?" The dress was backless, with white ribbons tying it together and holding it up. It was a beautiful dress, and I loved it to bits, but the infernal ribbons were impossible for me to do up. So I enlisted some help from the obvious source.

Once I was roped into my dress, I waltzed out into the room, pretending to be confident about how I looked. Nothing could have been further from the truth. I was standing in front of four hot immortal beings who were used to girls in floor length velvety gowns, and I was wearing a fairly short, white, backless halter dress with a low cut neckline. The dress was beautiful, and when I wore it I could almost believe that I was too, but I had no idea what the guys would think. So I danced into the room like the most confident person on earth – middle-earth – and covered up my shyness the usual way – pretending to be super-sexy. Which is not an attribute of mine.

I stood there for around two seconds, blushed red, mumbled something along the lines of 'forget it' and rushed back into the bathroom to sit down and wallow. I heard a knock on the bathroom door, and shouted to whoever it was,

"I KNOW the dress isn't okay here! But showing you it wasn't my idea and so please bugger off!"

_Aren't I such a little ray of sunshine._

"Ariel, are you changing?" said a soft, male voice. Honestly, I didn't need to be informed again that I had no clothes that I could wear.

"No I am not," I said, and rolled my eyes at whoever it was who thought that I had something better to change into.

"In that case, I'm coming in."

_What part of 'piss off' does this elf not understand?_

The door opened, and someone came in. I didn't bother to look up to see who it was. If I didn't know, I couldn't hold a grudge against them for interrupting my sulk. The someone came and sat down next to me.

_Oh, great. So lets quickly sum up what's happened to me in Middle Earth so far: been found in my nightie god knows where in the wilderness, been carried by Legolas to Rivendell whilst wearing aforementioned nightie, been found lying underneath two hot elves (even though the situation was totally innocent!), been found in a private garden, still in nighty, with Elrond. Oh yes, don't forget the whole showing the hot elves my special dress when I knew perfectly well that it was not appropriate Middle-Earth-wear. And now? Yup, now I'm sitting on the bathroom floor sulking because of my insecurities, and to top it off one of the hot elves is sitting watching me, probably thinking 'what a loser.'_

I sighed, feeling stupid and embarrassed. So much for my social skills :S

"Yes, I know that no one around here wears dresses like this. I hardly ever wear dresses anyway, but I brought it with me on holiday just in case I needed it, plus its always been lucky for me but its luck obviously isn't working any more. So please don't tell me how terrible I am for having a dress that shows my knees or whatever, because that is how people dress back home and I already know its not good here…" I trailed off, realising that I was babbling and probably spoke so fast that it was unintelligible.

I had that annoying feeling that you get when someone is watching you, and finally curiosity to find out who was there overwhelmed my desire to sulk. I looked up at blue eyes and blond hair, and realised that yet again, I had made a complete fool of myself in front of Legolas, who I had always considered to be the best looking elf in the films and had developed a huge crush on him.

"Um, you probably think I'm really, really, strange or something, but I'm not really that strange all the time… I'm just acting a bit... um… weird right now, as you may have noticed…" We both laughed at that, and I remembered something that someone wise had said to me once:

It's easy to be friends with a weird person who shares your sense of humour, but impossible to gain the respect and trust of a 'cool' person who has absolutely no sense of humour at all.

"I am sure that we all have our strange moments, it does not matter." Um, ok, right, if he said so…

"For me the rarities are the normal moments, but I guess it must be boring to be completely normal, although I wouldn't know, never having been so myself…"

"I think it would depend on what you call normal. It would be hard to find a person who could be considered 'normal'."

"Wow… I never realised before how much more wisdom than humans that elves can get out of a few thousand years of immortal life… it must be amazing to not have to worry about getting everything done before you're too old to do it."

_Whoa… philosophical me? Did Elrond put some drug in that tea I drank earlier?_

Our conversation was interrupted by Caeli sticking her head around the door and reminding me that I still had a clothing dilemma to sort out.

"Well, I guess that's you guys' cue to go and let me and Caeli stress then" I shrugged and looked apologetically at the four elves, me and Legolas having rejoined them.

Twenty minutes later, after a completely unsuccessful search, I threw a jumper at the wall and marched over to where my jeans lay on the floor.

"OK, I give up. I'm hungry and I am going to go down to dinner wearing jeans and a tank top. These elves don't like us anyway so it doesn't matter if I wear clothes that they hate." Caeli stared at me, then fell to her knees and thanked God for finally making me see sense.

Three minutes later, I had procured some blue jeans and my top with an eagle on it, and was walking down the hall with Caeli.

_Bugger bugger bugger I left my shoes upstairs!_

"DAMN!" I exclaimed.

"What now?" Caeli asked me.

"I forgot to wear shoes!" I called to her, having already started running back to the room. Caeli rolled her eyes and turned to follow me.

**Caeli's POV**

Eventually, we ended up in front of the large oak doors (well, for descriptive purposes its oak, it probably actually has a name I couldn't pronounce if I had immortal life). We were dressed, shoed and our hair had finally been put into reasonable states.

"Well open it then!" I said to Ariel.

"No, you open it!" she replied.

"Oh, come on its only a big, err very big-"

"Intimidating, frightening door that was probably made in the first age by immortals," Ariel helpfully finished for me. We both stood in silence for a while, contemplating the door.

"Lets both open the door." I said at last.

"Yeah, yeah good idea." Ariel replied.

We both put our hands on the door and pushed.

Inside, then first thing I noticed was a long wooden table laden with hundreds of dishes of food I'd never seen before. Then I noticed the strangest thing about the room, it didn't appear to have a ceiling. Looking up I saw only endless blue sky. There were low walls around the hall if you could really call it that, it was more an outdoory kind of place. About half the seats were taken by the elves. At the head of the table sat Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. He smiled at us and gestured for us to come over to him.

Either side of Elrond sat Elladan and Elrohir and with them Erestor, Legolas, Glorfindel and another elf I didn't recognise.

"Please sit and eat," said Elrond and gestured to two empty seat opposite each other on the table.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed an unusually troubled look on my friends face. I looked at the seats again and realised why and had to stop myself laughing.

The seat next to Legolas (which was obviously her first choice) had Erestor seated on the other side. I smiled sweetly at her and took my place on the other side of the table next to Glorfindel and the elf whom I had yet to learn the name of. Ariel sat down in the other available seat. I could see her torn between being over the moon that she was sitting next to elf-of-her-dreams Legolas and elf-of-her-nightmares Erestor. I smothered my giggles and attempted to put on a serious face.

"Do help yourself to whatever you would like ladies," Elrond said and tucked in himself.

I focused my attention on the plate of whatever it was in front of me. It looked vaguely like fish, but when in Middle-Earth you never can be sure of such things! Ariel was looking at the food with just as much curiosity as me but a little more disgust, after all she was a… oh….

I looked around on the table, there was the fishy thing, some red meat and some white meat, oh dear. Ariel was vegetarian.

"Oh," she said.

"Yup," I replied.

"What do I do?" she asked.

"Umm go hungry?" I suggested. She glared at me

"Not funny!" she groused.

"Ok, ok, just ask for a plate of squidgy green stuff then." I suggested helpfully.

"I don't want squidgy green stuff!" she retorted.

"Is everything alright ladies?" questioned Elrond concerned.

"Yes, well no" I said.

"I'm a vegetarian," said Ariel apologetically. Elrond did the eyebrow thing.

"It means she doesn't eat meat or fish or anything like that." I explained.

"Does it make you ill?" asked Legolas with a look of such worry on his face that anyone would have thought she was about to die just by looking at the stuff. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"No, no its ok," she assured him (how kind) "its just that eating a living being is completely against my ethical beliefs, because where I come from, the meat that we eat comes from cruelly treated animals who are hung up on a mass production line and they whizz along it and there's a knife but if they miss the knife then they get electrocuted but sometimes that doesn't actually work and they die by… ah…. different methods." Ariel finished, out of breath.

I looked round at the bemused faces of the elves and at Elrond. He did the eyebrow thing AGAIN (didn't that thing ever get a rest?).

"Basically I don't eat meat." Ariel concluded.

"But Caeli, you do?" asked Elladan.

"Yeah, see all that she just described, it does happen everywhere, they have laws on how you should kill animals 'humanely' and most farms are even more careful than the law requires them to be. But I don't often eat meat in the places where that sometimes goes on. Besides I believe that humans were designed to eat meat, its part of the food chain and meats provide nutrients that its harder to get in other foods." I smiled at their (again) bemused faces.

"So, err do you have any non meat things for me to eat?" Ariel asked into the silence that had consumed our end of the table.

"Of course, Elrohir, can you get her something?" asked Elrond. And before you ask, no there are no set 'servants' in Rivendell, people seem to just get what they want from the cook. Elrohir nodded and left the hall.

In the meantime I turned my attention back to the plate of fish in front of me.

"You won't fill your appetite just by staring at it!" laughed Glorfindel and but some on my plate.

Ok thing is now on my plate, step two, get it into my mouth. I glanced at the eating utensils next to the plate, they seemed to be some sort of chopsticks but slightly broader with more elaborate ends. _Yay! Chopsticks_ I thought. Being part Chinese I could actually use them but poor Ariel didn't have a hope in hell!

I picked up the chopsticky things and prodded my food.

"Your food isn't alive you know," said the elf to the other side of me smiling.

"Yes, I've err, just never seen anything like it before" (well it was kinda bright pink).

I gingerly picked up a piece of this semi-luminescent thing. Ariel was watching me from the other ended of the table with a bemused expression on her face.

_Ok, here goes…_ _no, I can't eat pink fish! _I thought desperately. But then again I was usually ready to try anything for the first time. _Ok, one, two, three… _I put it in my mouth.

"This is actually not bad!" I said to the elf next to me, "what's your name by the way?" I asked.

"Merenon, I'm glad you like it I don't think I've ever met anyone that doesn't!" he replied smiling. I smiled back. Why does every elf have to be sooo hot? Its just not fair! It makes be feel under valued, ugly, inferior…and very, very lucky, all at the same time!

Elrohir soon came back with Ariel's food. A whole plate of fresh vegetables!

Right now for the watching of Ariel use chopsticks, this would be fun! She looked at them for a moment then picked them up carefully as if they were very likely to bite her without warning at any second. Then she took one in each hand (your supposed to use both in one hand) and attempted to pick up a piece of lettuce. All credit to her she managed to get it about 2mm of her plate, a great achievement for her, must be this elvish air, or maybe Legolas gave her a special charm. Whichever way it dropped back onto the plate within a matter of milli seconds. Oh well.

I was all ready for a good session of watching Ariel's pathetic attempts when I saw Legolas' face. _Oh no, he isn't going to do what I think he's going to do is he? _I wondered.

"Could I help you with that?" he asked Ariel "Pick them up like this…" well at least it wasn't as bad as I thought, at least he wasn't about to feed her.

Of course Ariel seemed all too willing to learn from him and tried to copy his handhold exactly. However, this still didn't work.

"Hold them a bit further up in your hand," he advised. She did and this time managed to get the lettuce a little higher than last time. I clapped sarcastically but luckily Ariel only barely noticed, was too busy watching Legolas.

"Umm…" Legolas pondered for a moment. "Ok, hold your chopsticks more like this…" he said, and putting his arms round her toke her hands in his and adjusted the position of her chopsticks (I really must stop calling them that cause they really weren't chopstick but, alas, I have not a better word).

Finally, getting slightly tired of the whole Ariel Legolas thing I excused myself saying that I need to go to the loo and scampered off to our room. There I found my bag and dug around inside it until I found my fold up camping fork. I rushed back to the hall with it.

Well, if by some miracle Legolas has taught her to eat with these funny elvish things I'll let her eat with the funny elvish things, otherwise she is using a fork

I re-entered the hall. Ariel was still trying and failing with the elvish things. I sat down.

"Try this," I said handing her the fork. A look of relief passed over her face but at the same she looked disappointed as Legolas let go of her. She proceeded to eat using her fork.

The rest of the meal passed with not a lot of talked although I did ask Merenon to tell me about him self. He was apparently of the Noldor, he and his brother Gelon had been exiled and where on their way to the ships at the Grey Havens to departs once and for all from Middle-Earth. I felt a wave of sadness come over me when he said this, it was horrible to think that all these people would soon be gone.

Reviewer replies (this time by Tin – we do them alternately)– thank you all loads for reviewing/hugs you all/

enyamorntuilr: you're grounded? nooo that sucks! I'm glad you liked the chapter :-D (there I go with the unimaginative smilies again lol)

slytherin-iz-mine: I love your story it's really funny! and I'm glad that you like Elrond's sense of humour, I wasn't sure if it was too OOC or not, but now that it's not, there'll be more funny Elrond in the future :D

Eleanor: I'm glad you like it! and thanks for the compliment about our writing styles, its nice to know we're not really terrible writers :-)

Navaer Lalaith: Thanks for Merenon and Gelon, we appreciate them :-D and we'll both try and remember to put the hyphen in middle-earth. I know Legolas is kind of boring in the films, but he'll be much more interesting in this. plus Ariel and Caeli really need some eye candy to drool over… :P

animebishieluver: yayness I'm so glad you like the story :D and don't worry we're not going to stop updating, we'll keep on updating once a week, and probably more often in the holidays.

Samantha-girl scout: Glad you liked it! And I'm glad you find it funny too :D Ala wants to tell you that she read your reply just after she finished doing her maths coursework (bleurrghh) and it really cheered her up, go you!

I heart glorfindel: we love him too! glorfy is definitely an under-appreciated character in the films, so he'll be getting lots of screen time – well, page time – to make up for it :P


	6. Chapter 6

Postman Pat: This is the six o clock disclaimer, brought to you by me and Jess my cat!

Ala and Tin! This is a lord of the rings fanfiction!

Elrond/does eyebrow thing/ you know this person?

Ala and Tin: yes we do!

Tin: I love your show Pat! Can I stroke Jess?

Postman Pat: Sure… But aren't you forgetting the point of this disclaimer?

Ala: Erm… yes… why don't we get Ariel and Caeli to do it, now that they've been let out of their cage.

Ariel: ouch…. that cage was not fun..

Tin: Well, that'll teach you to run riot won't it!

Caeli: Erm… don't count on it….

Morgoth: Hello! You need to do the disclaimer and you are forgetting it you stupid people! Muahahahaha!

Manwe: Bad Morgoth! Back to the void/whaps Morgoth who returns to the void with his tail between his legs/

Varda: Honestly! I'll do the darn disclaimer. Ala and Tin own themselves, Ariel and Caeli. And a pot plant.

Chapter 6 

**Ariel POV**

After dinner, Caeli and me went along to the Hall of Fire with everyone else. As we went in the door, I stopped in my tracks and stared around me.

_Wow. Michelangelo could take lessons from whoever decorated this place._

The Hall of Fire was HUGE. It was absolutely gorgeous. It was wooden, and had beautiful decoration around the edges of the windows that I could only assume were made of mithril. On either side of the Hall, there were two pillars reaching up to the ceiling, and a large open fire in between the pillars. Groups of elves clustered around the pillars, and many of them were singing.

Nothing like listening to a bunch of elves singing to Elbereth to remind a girl that she can't sing…

"Erm, Caeli?" I asked.

"Yes, Ariel dear?" She replied.

"Do you get the feeling that we are waaaaay out of our depth here?" I inquired.

"What do you mean?" She looked kind of confused.

"Well, we're surrounded by these perfect immortal beings in this amazingly beautiful place in a different world to our own, don't you think that we stick out a bit as being really odd?"

"Ariel, stop thinking so much. You'll only confuse yourself." Somehow, I got the feeling that she wasn't listening to me… possibly something to do with the fact that there were a lot of males there, and they were all very very hot…

"Are you implying that I'm stupid?" I glared at her, becoming annoyed again. Being in Rivendell didn't seem to have cured my temper. Ah well.

"Well, I don't suppose that one spy would insult her fellow spy in front of so many others, but if she was implying that you are rather stupid I feel that I would have to agree," smirked Erestor.

_Didn't his mother ever tell him to butt out of other peoples' conversations?_

"Erestor, I really think that we could get along so much better… that there could be something so much more satisfying between us… something I know that I'd enjoy…" I stepped closer to him, and flashed my best seductive smile. He looked so surprised that my response to him insulting me was to turn on the heavy flirting, and then looked like the cat that had got the proverbial cream.

"Really? What do you mean by that?" He smiled at me, and stepped closer. I smiled at him sweetly – no, not sweetly – seductively – and replied.

"Hmm… welll…." I pretended to be thinking about it, and fluttered my eyelashes at him. "Maybe…. like a few thousand leagues? Possibly Gondor?" I smirked at him and walked away, leaving a very stunned Erestor standing there staring after me.

"Hmm… I almost feel sorry for him, Ariel! But he so deserved it. Nice one!" grinned Caeli. Together we walked over to where Elrond and his family were sitting near one of the columns.

"I was actually under the impression that you were not best pleased with Erestor, Ariel. I see you reconciled after all." Elrond commented, the eyebrows raising, but I was sure that I could see a small smirk lurking somewhere under the shadow of those eyebrows.

"Oh, we definitely haven't, I just decided that he needed to be informed of certain things," I informed them, deciding that I wouldn't tell them exactly what I'd said. Erestor was evil but I thought that would be going a bit over the top in the punishment stakes.

"Ariel, may I talk to you for a moment?" Erestor smirked.

Oh dear. He is so trying to get back at me for what I just said to him… I guess he wants the others to think I'm a total whore by dragging me off to talk to him somewhere.

I shot a 'Help' look at Caeli, who looked at me and grinned, then looked at Erestor and smirked.

"Oh, Elrond, I guess that basically you want to know why Ariel was flirting with Erestor when a couple of hours ago she hated his guts, so let me explain." And Caeli proceeded to give a detailed description of what I'd said, for everyone listening to hear.

Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, Arwen, Glorfindel, and Legolas all chuckled, and Erestor sighed. He looked vaguely embarrassed that he had a) been tricked by me, and b) had the tale told to a bunch of powerful Elves.

"Well? Ariel, may I talk to you?"

Ut oh… I don't think that this is going to be much fun, somehow… well I wonder why… 

"You're already talking to me." Well, if being rude to him wouldn't make him go away, nothing would. Except possibly bug spray.

"Look, SPY, you need to learn some manners! I've had enough of your seductive ways! How many elves have you managed to entice so far? Let me count… Lord Elladan, Lord Elrohir, Prince Legolas, Lord Elrond" he looked apologetically at Elrond, "and then you try your witchcraft on me! Go back to where you came from, whore!" He shouted at me.

I opened my mouth to speak, then shut it again. I was so angry that I couldn't form coherent words. The four aforementioned Elf Lords (ok, three plus a prince if you must get technical) stood up in unison, but before they could say anything I found the ability to speak again.

"How dare you say that I am a whore! I have not seduced anybody here except YOU and it's your own fault that you were stupid enough to fall for it! Is your ego seriously so big that you actually believe that I would be in any way attracted to you? And why are you saying some crap about me 'seducing' them?" I indicated the four angry elves, "So, let me see: me and Caeli were having a PILLOW FIGHT with Elladan and Elrohir, and I was wearing my nightie most of the day because that is perfectly reasonable clothing and not indecent back home, plus that is how I arrived here and I didn't realise I was wearing it, so apparently I've 'seduced' the three of them, and then you think that I purposely didn't know how to eat with those stupid stick thingys just to seduce Legolas?" I paused from being out of breath, and Erestor took this as a chance to continue being rude to me.

"And what are those clothes you are wearing! They are COMPLETELY inappropriate for a lady, why are you not wearing a respectable dress? At least your friend has her arms covered! Or is it so hot in Mordor that a dress is too burdensome? I presume you just take it off when you just get hot there, whore, spy!"

"I am wearing a jumper because I am COLD you git!" Caeli shouted at him.

"I AM NOT A SPY AND I AM NOT A WHORE! For your information, I wasn't even going to come down to dinner because I KNEW that clothes back home are so different from clothes here, but I was convinced to come down! And if I was a whore, I wouldn't have been in New Zealand in the first place, I'd have been outside King's Cross charging by the hour!" I shouted. My face was bright red from anger and I could see Elrond and Glorfindel holding Elladan, Elrohir, and Legolas back from attacking Erestor. Caeli looked murderous and I could tell she was trying to stop herself from utilising karate on Erestor.

"Of course clothes are different in Mordor, orcs generally don't have the intelligence to produce fine fabrics. And you are an ungrateful brat of a whore-spy to refuse the fine food of Rivendell and make Lord Elrohir fetch special food for you from the kitchens." Erestor retorted.

"She did not REFUSE the food, she was asked why she wasn't eating and she answered! And are you so unwelcoming to guests that you would refuse them food that they can eat? And she did not MAKE Elrohir get food for her from the kitchens, Elrond kindly asked him to! So shut your mouth and don't talk about what you don't understand!" Caeli screamed at Erestor.

"As a SPY, she should be grateful that she was granted any food at all! And she should not be granted entrance into the Hall of Fire, undeserving whore! Both of you spies should be locked up somewhere, not treated as guests! Go back to where you come from, spies, you are not wanted here!"

Why did I forget that you should never pick fights with someone who is already slightly drunk and also hates your guts? How can I win a fight against an immortal with thousands of years of practise at arguing?

"Erestor, I AM NOT A SPY! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK HEAD! Don't you think that if I was a spy, I would look fair and seem foul? Which shows that I can't be a spy because I know perfectly well that I do not look fair, although you seem to believe that I seem foul!"

"Well, I have to say that you definitely look AND seem foul." Erestor smirked.

I burst into tears at this last insult. I turned away from him and ran out of the room.

Elrond's POV 

I have not seen Erestor so angry for centuries. I do not know why he dislikes Ariel and Caeli so intently, because normally he behaves very differently. I have always known him to be friendly and courteous towards the guests of Imladris. He is one of my greatest friends, but I feel that I cannot allow his current behaviour to continue.

I turn to him, and decide that I need to talk to him, but not in front of everyone in the Hall of Fire, in the dead silence which has blanketed the room.

"Erestor, I think that you and I need to talk." I say to him, and walk him out of the Hall of Fire. As soon as we leave the room I can hear angry speech break out. Many elves are angry at Erestor's actions, and I can hear my sons' voices loud among these, but there are still many who think that he was justified what he said to Ariel.

"Erestor, I understand that you are worried about Ariel and Caeli and the threat that they might pose to Rivendell, and I am glad that you take our community's safety seriously, but I think that you could have found a better way to make your feelings known than by reducing a fifteen year old girl to tears," I say to him, and he looks at me. "And I know that you are worried that Ariel displays, ahem, inappropriate behaviour towards various males, but in fact she has not. I believe that you have just encountered her at times when appearances have been deceiving. Erestor, I am asking you to trust my opinion on this matter for I strongly believe that they are NOT spies, in fact rather the opposite, I believe that they know something we don't and wish to help us but the only way we can help them is by presenting a united front."

Erestor sighs, and says that he would like to go to the library, as he does not feel like returning to the Hall of Fire tonight. I hope that he and Ariel will get on better together in the future, but I will not request that he apologise, as any apology from him should come from his heart and not because I have made him.

Caeli's POV 

Something was banging.

_Just pretend it doesn't exist and it'll go away _I thought and rolled over in my bed and before anyone asks, yes I knew I was in Rivendell, Caeli never forgets where she is when she wakes up in the morning NEVER.

So, anyways, me being in Rivendell meant that the banging wasn't my mum. _Huh, probably doing some construction…go back to sleep… _Now if I was more awake (or had been honoured with the presence of a few more brain cells) I would realise that it was very unlikely that the elves were building seeing as they were about to leave middle earth and all. Luckily for my sleepy self the banging stopped for a moment and a voice floated into the room.

"Anyone awake in there?" said the voice. _Well, no, there wasn't until you started banging _I thought.

I rolled out of bed and plodded towards the door. However my teenaged girl ego wouldn't let me actually reach the door without running my fingers through my hair a few times, after all, that was definitely a male voice and 99 of all male elves are (as I sleepily reminded myself) very hot.

Hands having been run through hair, I pulled a fleece jacket on and opened the door.

It was the twins.

"Morning," I said stretching and yawning and blinking until I was more awake.

"A very good morning to you too Caeli." answered one of the twins.

"Is Ariel awake?" asked the other "Ariel!" he called. Now, I know this to be a VERY bad idea first thing in the morning. I immediately bundled them both outside.

"Ok, rule number one, NEVER be the one to wake Ariel up in the morning." I warned them making sure I made eye contact with both of them.

"Why not?" asked one of them "She isn't angry with us is she?"

"Angry with you? Of course not! But in the morning you could be Legolas Prince of Mirkwood himself and you'd still wish you weren't the one to wake her up." I paused "Then again, she probably wouldn't mind if it was Legolas" I said smirking.

"Well we need to talk to her, maybe we should get Legolas although I don't see why she would be any less angry at him for waking her up"

"Heh, very funny" I said sarcastically "Now, what did you want to talk to her about so desperately anyway?"

"Revenge!" said one grinning.

"On Erestor" said the other.

"Elves believe in revenge?" I asked incredulous. I'd always viewed the elven race as being pure and forgiving for some reason.

"Not as seriously as you're probably thinking, no, but as a joke yes. Now shall we get Legolas to wake Ariel?"

I considered for a while, yes it did seem a bit over kill, after all I was capable of waking her up myself and surviving. Or I could just ask one of the twins to do it. _Nah, get Legolas do to, it would be funny if nothing else! But what do I tell him? 'Hey leggy, you're the only one Ariel won't shout at if you wake her up in the morning because she's in love with you'? _My troubles were soon over when I saw the elf himself walking towards us.

"Legolas!" I called.

"Good morning Caeli," he said, every inch the gentlemen (or would that be gentlelf?) "I trust you slept well?"

"I did thank you," I responded "I wonder if you could do something for me?"

"Of course, what is it?" he asked. Now came the difficult part.

"I err... I have to talk to Elrohir and Elladan, can you wake Ariel up for me please?" I asked, ok that was the world's crappiest excuse I admit it, but in my defence I had only just got up and my brain cell wasn't working properly. Legolas looked puzzled but agreed. As he cautiously entered our room I vaguely wondered if a male elf waking up a girl was not a done thing in Middle-earth, on a par with walking around in your pyjamas perhaps. Oh well, we'd now done both.

The twins and I waited outside in an expectant silence.

"LEGOLAS!" came a sudden shout from inside. I couldn't decide if it was an angry shout or a happy shout. A second or two passed. Then Legolas came out again looking terribly anxious. Poor elf!

"She's awake now," he managed "Though, I fear I may have shocked her a little" he said looking most apologetic.

"Oh well, I dare say she'll get over it in... " I looked at an imaginary watch forgetting that watches didn't exist in Middle-earth. "approximately five seconds from now, thank you Legolas."

"Is there something wrong with your arm?" asked a twin inspecting my wrist with concern. I pulled my arm back.

"No, I'm ok really, its just a gesture we do back home," they all looked even more flummoxed. Oh well.

Ariel emerged from our room, her hair evidently having been combed a lot more thoroughly than mine (well I was in a rush ok?).

"Hiya guys!" she said happily, the picture of non-moodiness.

"We're considering revenge Ariel" I updated her. "Against Erestor." I was expecting her to smile straight away, but she looked more worried than happy.

"I dunno guys its really nice of you but you know I've shouted at Erestor, he's shouted back maybe we should just let it be," she said. Wow, is she is forgiving Erestor? Must have been the affect of seeing Legolas first thing in the morning, they should so get together, it would make my life so much easier!

"We don't mean like wage a war of hate against him just, well actually, what were you guys planing?" I asked the twins.

"Well, the elf who makes clothes here-" began one of the twins.

"Who Elrohir is in love with!" interrupted Elladan.

"I am not!" Elrohir answered going red.

"You are!" Elladan retorted.

"Ok, whatever, can you just continue please?" asked Ariel.

"Sorry, as I was saying this elf has a lot of spare blue dye…" said Elrohir, still slightly pink. I could see Ariel's eyes lighting up.

"And if it could accidentally fall onto of Erestor while he is sitting in a tree…" continued Elladan.

"That would be evil! But yeah let's do it!" I said grinning.

"Ok, right we have this planned out, Ariel and Legolas you two can be our alibis. Elrohir you fetch the dye from your favourite elf maiden," here Elladan winked at Elrohir "and take it to Caeli and I who will wait on the higher branches of Erestor's favourite tree with the dye. Any questions?" he asked. I put up my hand then immediately put it back down again, I wasn't at school! Elladan laughed, "Yes Caeli? "

I was just wondering, wouldn't it be better if Ariel did the blue-ing? Seeing as she is the one that Erestor insulted last night." _Wow, quite a question for me, I'm getting smart!_

"I agree, it would be more appropriate for Ariel to be the one to pour the blue dye," said Erestor _this really is looking good for me, I've actually given an ELF an idea! _"but if she were to be seen elsewhere at the time of the little accident it would better as she is most likely to be suspected." _oh, why can't I ever think up something intelligent? _

"Oh, ok." I said trying to look as if I knew it all along.

"Right then, everyone go!" said Elladan. Elrohir went straight off to find the blue dye. Legolas offered Ariel him arm (which of course she accepted) and they went off to wherever they were going to, in Elladan's word's, 'be seen'.

"Can you wait here for a moment? I'll just go get changed," I asked Elladan.

"Of course," he said as I hurried into my room.

I put on some comfy trousers and a long-sleeved top, I didn't really want to get into more arguments with any other elves over what I was wearing, not today anyway. I brushed my hair properly realising that it seriously needed a wash, slipped on my trainers and went back to join Elladan who was waiting with the bucket of very blue dye. Lovely colour I have to say, Erestor was lucky!

"Erestor's favourite tree is just over there," Elladan pointed to a field to our left. "Elrohir has already gone back to his love!" he laughed.

"Right then, lets go!" I said and took the other side of the bucket, yeah I know Elladan probably didn't need any help but I felt bad just leaving him to it.

We soon reached a beautiful tall tree (well all the trees in Rivendell were tall and beautiful). Elladan and the bucket of blue dye seemed to get up to the top branches in no time at all, he seemed to move with the flexibility of an …umm… elf! I rolled my eyes and I climbed more carefully and slowly up. _I suppose elf maidens climb trees with ease _I thought grumpily as no helping hand came down to drag me up.

I was almost on Elladan's level when I put my foot wrong (probably because by this time I was feeling rather over confident) and slipped. However Elladan caught my hand and pulled me up quickly and easily as if I were a bag of lembas flour.

"Are you ok?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I'm just not as good at climbing trees as elves," I replied, slightly out of breath.

"I can tell," he commented, truth and not tactfulness was obviously a talent of elves.

So we waited for our victim to climb unsuspecting into the tree. To pass the time Elladan told me the stories of some of the nearby trees. How he'd grown that one from a seed he'd harvested from the tree next to it and how he used to play on that tree with Elrohir.

"Must be fun being a twin," I said.

"That's what everyone seems to think," said Elladan smiling.

"What, you mean its not?" I asked curiously.

"No, you see people seem to think of us as one unit, you probably do and I don't blame you. But I'd rather have more individuality if you see what I mean. People think of us as 'the twins' ; the actions we do, as individuals seem to be attributed to both of us. If Elrohir does a brave deed in battle I'll get praised for it as much as him and equally if he does something he shouldn't I am held just as responsible as he is. Sometimes I would rather just be respected as an individual. " sighed Elladan.

I listened to this and felt immediately sorry for him but I also realised that he was right, I had been thinking of him as just 'one of the twins' hardly caring which one.

"Maybe you should tell people that," I suggested.

"I do but people forget, elves live long and it's sometimes hard for them to reverse habits," he said but at this point our conversation was cut off, someone had climbed onto the lower branches of the tree. It was Erestor. Suddenly I had second thoughts, he hadn't got a clue we were up here. He was totally vulnerable. Then I remembered what he had called Ariel last night and all reservations about this whole thing disappeared entirely.

Elladan nodded to me. I took the other side of the bucket. Elladan mouthed 'one, two, three'.

We poured.

Starlight-blue dye flowed silently out of the bucket, down,

down,

down, until it crashed upon the elf below.

A yell of surprise came from below and I tried to hide myself among the leaves as quickly as possible, but as I have already mentioned I have not and will never have the reflexes of an elf. Erestor tilted his blue face up, his eyes saw mine then he jumped from the tree and vanished in a streak of starlight-blue.

I looked up at Elladan he looked happy, shocked and amused all at the same time.

"He's blue!" he finally stated the obvious with a look of blue satisfaction on his face. He threw the bucket down to the ground and we high-fived (yup elves do that). He jumped easily to the ground.

"Jump, I'll catch you!" he called to me. Did I mention it was a tall tree? If I didn't, it was.

"You're joking right?" I called down and put but foot gingerly down to find the branch below, I couldn't find it.

"Ok, on second thoughts," I said and closed my eyes, put my faith in the hopefully-amazing-catching-powers of elves and jumped.

True to his word Elladan caught and set me gently on the ground.

"Next time, open your eyes when you jump," he advised smiling.

"I will," I said l laughing.

"Right, you should wash all the blue off you," he said looking at me critically. I looked at myself and yes I was covered in blue, Elladan, however was spotless. _Unfair!_

"Yeah, I see what you mean, how can I get a bath?" I asked.

"Well you could bathe in the river," he said winking mischievously while I gave him my best 'that was so not a funny joke' look, "or there should be a bath tub in your room. There will be a pipe above it, open the latch and warm water will come out."

"I think I'll take the bath tub option," I told him and hugged him "thank you for doing this for me and Ariel."

"That's ok," he said hugging back "he offended me and brother too by suggesting that our behaviour towards yourself and Ariel was anything but proper."

I smiled and walked back to my room.

"You got me blue!" called Elladan from behind me.

"Sorry!" I called back and entered my room to have a long overdue bath!

We've realised that some of you might not know what marmite is (thanks moralinde! have a llama as a token of our gratitude! no, seriously, thanks :-D) and so here goes the explanation: marmite is a brown spread stuff that's made from yeast and is a bit like australian vegemite. the whole love it or hate it thing is it's advertising slogan here in the uk. I love it (Tin) and as far as i know, Ala does as well. There you go, Marmite 101 :D

No reviewer responses this time as they have been banned, but reviews will still get replies and we're told the come in a thing called an e-mail?

Not quite sure what they're talking about but anyway, do review and I'll make sure it gets there by Eagle express. Tin, do you know what they're talking about by this 'e-mail'?

Tin: I'm sure I haven't a clue Ala dear, I agree I think we should send responses by Eagle Express anyway just in case this 'e-mail' device can't be trusted.

Ala: A work of Morgoth I'm sure.

Tin: My feelings precisely, now do you want to publish this or not?

Ala: Ok, ok!

Postman Pat: Sorry, but e-mail will have to suffice, as my cat Jess has eaten the eagles. And so that I can deliver your responses, please sign them so that you can be PMd :-)


	7. Chapter 7

Gwaihir: Due to the lack of normalcy in the previous disclaimers, I have brought a very special guest to do the disclaimer this chapter! Drum roll, please!

Drums//roll down the hill and bump intoGhost of Tolkien/

Ghost of Tolkien: OW!

Gwaihir//sigh/ It's…. TINUVIEL'S POT PLANT!

Pot plant: …………..

Tin: Come on, speak up!

Ala: Um, Tin……

Tin: Yes?

Ala: You do know that pot plants can't talk, don't you?

Tin: Of course my darling ickle pot plant can talk! It's just… um… shy, that's all!

Ala: Well, if you say so /rolls eyes/ but I still think someone else should do it.

Gwaihir: I wondered why it never answered when I asked it to marry me…. /blushes/

Ariel and Caeli: AWWW! Gwaihir and pot plant, sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G!

Ghost of Tolkien: Stop destroying my Windlord's reputation! Fine, I own most of it. Thankfully, I don't own Ariel and Caeli.

Tin: MY POT PLANT!

**Chapter 7**

**Ariel POV**

After me, Caeli, Legolas, Elrohir, and Elladan decided to dye Erestor blue, I excused myself and went back to my nice comfy bed, which I had been unfairly roused from by a pointy eared elf who had been the victim of one of my early morning moods (translate as: I hit him in the face. Caeli always said I was grumpy in the mornings. I always preferred to say that I was very defensive of my right to sleep while half-awake.)

"AAAAARRRGGHHHHH!"

I sat up in bed two hours later, woken by a scream. I heard footsteps running and looked round in fright, wondering who had screamed and what was happening. Then my door burst open and two male beings with sharp pointy swords rushed in.

_Please God please don't let them kill me or kidnap me or torture me!_

I dived underneath the duvet and curled up like a hedgehog. One of the people put their hand on my shoulder. I recoiled and punched them in the nose.

"Owwww!"

_That voice sounds familiar…. who've I just punched?_

I sat up and stared into the faces of Elrond and Legolas. The latter having a hand over his nose.

_Uh oh. Why, why, why do I always have to embarrass myself in front of him?_

"Oh my god I am so sorry! That's the second time I've hit you in the face today, it's nothing personal I promise and I'm sorry! I didn't realise it was you I just woke up when someone screamed then you two came in and I just saw the swords and didn't recognise you I am so sorry I really didn't mean it!" I babbled, mentally hitting myself – make that mentally running myself over with an articulated lorry – and stared at the two of them. Both elves had concerned looks on their faces. Well, Elrond did, and what I could see of Legolas' face made him look concerned.

_Oh yayness, now they definitely think I'm mad. The looks on their faces SO say 'let's take her off to a nice friendly psychiatrist._

"Are you alright Ariel? We heard you scream and thought that you might be in danger," inquired Elrond.

"It was me that screamed? Okaay I did not know that… I thought it was somebody else, it sounded really….unearthly." The scream had actually sounded sort of like a fell beast, but I managed not to blurt that one out.

"Yes, you screamed. Did you say you were woken up by it? Were you dreaming anything particularly worrying?" Elrond seemed very interested in my dreams.

"Actually, I never have nice dreams, that one was just worse than usual. I guess that I just screamed in my sleep or something." I could literally see both elves' ears perk up at this, and I began to regret sharing that minor detail of my usual sleep pattern.

"You never have good dreams? Are your nightmares generally about anything in particular?" This time it was Legolas inquiring about my dreams in an overly interested tone.

"Erm yes they are actually, the people and settings in them always change, but I'm always being chased by evil people who want to kill me, which sounds really childish but it's quite scary when it's actually happening. And they often have people that you would know but I don't although I know their story, and they're always the good people. But I didn't dream anything like that last night."

_Am I imagining things or did Elrond go momentarily bug-eyed? Nah, must have been imagining it. They're really stupid dreams actually._

"Interesting… very interesting…" mused Legolas.

_Cap'n Jack Sparrow!_

"What did you dream about that caused you to scream so loudly?" asked Elrond, with his infuriating blank i-am-an-Elf-Lord-and-thou-shalt-not-know-what-I-think expression.

"I just had a dream about having a massive argument with Erestor in the Hall of Fire, and he was calling me and Caeli spies AGAIN and then saying some total crap which you don't want to listen to cause it was very repetitive and long winded. And then I totally embarrassed myself by crying which is so the stupidest thing to do in an argument and I screamed at him then ran out then I woke up."

_What the hell is so funny about that? It was not a fun dream to have!_

I glared at the two elves, whose grins quickly subsided into looks of sympathy.

_They better be sympathetic because I've had a bad dream and not because I look like I've just been run over by a reindeer._

"Ariel, you would probably prefer to hear this from Caeli, but that dream was a memory of yesterday evening." Elrond told me.

"You mean… I really stood there and screamed at Erestor in front of everyone? So now everyone hates me for shouting at your chief advisor who's probably three thousand years older than me? That's absolutely fantastic, my life just gets better and better." I sighed and imagined Erestor riding a zebra and losing control of it, only to fall off of it into a huge vat of pasta sauce.

_Hehehehe_

"Well, yes, you and Erestor did have a rather interesting argument, but I do not think you need to worry about being disliked by the eyewitnesses of the event" Elrond reassured me.

_Hmm, yes Elrond, I'm sure they all absolutely love the fact that the spy screamed at the advisor of a ring-bearer. I bet they're all out selling 'WE LOVE ARIEL' tshirts. I'm so sure._

"Hm." I raised my eyebrows slightly. "Well, it's probably really late now so I better get up and get dressed."

_As in, bugger off. If you really want to talk to me, wait outside the door._

Neither Elrond nor Legolas showed any intention of moving towards the door and going through it.

_Duh, THAT MEANS YOU TWO!_

"Um, that was kind of the tactful version of: I need to get changed so please don't sit there and watch because that is never going to happen!" I said, exasperated at the idiocy of immortal beings.

_I guess it really is true about your brain cells beginning to die when you're 25. These two don't seem to have many left._

"There is a screen over there, you can change behind that." Legolas said.

_Argh bloody elves! Is two minutes of privacy alone in my room so much to ask?_

I rolled my eyes, grabbed my shorts and a tank top, and disappeared behind the evil screen to change. Thirty seconds later, I emerged and sat down cross leggedin front of the mirror, and proceeded to brush my hair, ignoring the Elf Lord and the prince who were sitting on the end of MY bed. I glanced round at them and saw that an expression of boredom was etched across said prince's face, and on Elrond's face one of THE eyebrows was raised.

"Well, guys, having to watch me do my hair and make up is what you get when you insist in waiting in here while I get ready to face the world, which, incidentally, hates me." I finished brushing my hair and proceeded to do my make up.

"Have you finished yet? And what was the powder you put on your face?" asked Legolas, when I stood up. I grinned evilly.

"It was blusher, and oh no I haven't finished yet, I need to paint my nails first," I said. A 'whattttt?' expression manifested itself over their faces, and I proceeded to explain to the two elves how nail polish worked. Of course, I decided that the best way to explain would be to demonstrate…. Suffice to say that once I was finished with them, they both had very rosy cheeks. Elrond was modelling bright pink nail polish, and Legolas' nails demonstrated exactly how bad orange nail polish looked on elves.

_Muahahahahahahahaha! You know, I really don't think that pink suits Elrond very much, he looks very girly with the nails and the blush and the long hair. Hehehe. And Legolas looks absolutely foul in orange! Kind of like a cross between a stalk of celery and a pumpkin._

After I had made up Elrond and Legolas, the three of us left my room, and wandered vaguely in the direction of… somewhere. The corridors were very pretty, and the memory of our plans to dye Erestor blue made the world seem so much brighter… positively shiny, in fact!

I realised that for me and Legolas to successfully be Elladan and Caeli's alibi, we really needed to escape Elrond. Legolas, evidently, had completely forgotten about this, and so I tried to subtly escape from Elrond.

"You know, I'm actually quite hungry, shall we go to breakfast?" I figured that somewhere along the way, we could lose him and provide an alibi.

"Ariel, it will be time for lunch in an hour. You slept in late."

_Time to think up a new plan, then._

I thought hard, then gave up and figured that we were going to get caught anyway, so it didn't really matter whether or not I managed to create an alibi. I know, that wasn't the nicest thing I'd ever done, but I was hungry and much more interested in food than revenge.

In the end, Elrond went off on his own anyway, and I proceeded to remind Legolas that we needed an alibi for them and that he needed to think of one due to his superior brain power.

"Ariel, Erestor was dyed blue an hour ago."

_OK, that explains why he didn't try and get away from Elrond._

Joy of joys, Erestor stormed up to us right then, dyed a beautiful starlight-blue colour, and proceeded to shout at me for being generally evil. I actually felt sort of bad, because that dye could take a while to come off, and I figured we were even.

"Erestor, please could we discuss this somewhere more private than right next to the hall of fire?" I could totally see the mistrust written all over his face, but he grudgingly agreed after a glare from Legolas. So the three of us traipsed off to a garden.

"OK Erestor, I know you don't like me, and after the dye I can understand why. But I don't want to hate you and I don't want you to hate me so please can we just cut the arguing, pretend we've never met or spoken, and start again? Personally I think we're even now, you were really rude and unfair to me and Caeli, so you became blue. So can we please stop fighting. And I'm sorry for you being blue if you're sorry for what you've said to me, but if you're not sorry, I'm not either." I said, watching his face carefully. Being an elf, and probably not a bad guy normally, he agreed to 'start anew' with me, although I noticed he didn't mention anything about peace with Caeli.

_Oh well, he'll come round. Even if it does take a talking bowl of pink and purple spaghetti to make him wake up. OK, if he saw that he'd probably faint. Don't think they have pasta in Middle-earth._

**Caeli POV**

I sighed contentedly, submerged in the warm fragrant water. Yup, fragrant! The smell of my rose and cinnamon shower gel wafted pleasantly through the air. Everything was perfect…almost. It was just this weird feeling I got that it wasn't quite privet. I mean it was of course I was on my own but…

Ok, I'm not explaining myself very well, you see Rivendell is a very open kind of place. There are very few rooms that are closed in by four walls and a ceiling. Of course they bedrooms were completely closed in but they had this free feeling to them. Lovely to just relax in and sleep in but not when you're having a bath. Ever not been able to shut the door when you're washing? Even if you know there's no one at home it still feels weird. Well I felt kinda like that.

Weird feeling aside, the bath was lovely. The water was just the right temperature and lovely and soft and I felt totally clean and relaxed. I sunk into a dream like warm trance.

Then was rudely awoken by someone knocking on my door. What was it with today and people disturbing me?

"Just a second," I called and jumped reluctantly out of my bath and grabbed the soft white, fluffy towel (why does everything in Rivendell just have to be so nice? It gets annoying!). I wrapped I rubbed the towel over my hair quickly, just enough to stop it dripping and wrapped the towel around me.

I glanced in the mirror, my hair was a mess of random wet waves. I hunted in my bag for a comb. _Come on, you've got to be there somewhere dearest brush don't let me down now in my hour of need…_

"Are you ok?" asked the elf outside my door. I gave up on the brush.

"Yes, yes, come in," I said deciding that all fit elves around had seen me in a state by now anyway for one reason or another an it was pointless trying to make out I was beautiful. I closed by bag and turned around to see Glorfindel.

"I didn't mean to disturb your bath lady, I apologise." he said at once seeing me in a towel. Was it me or has this elf done nothing but apologise to me since I arrived? Then again thinking of the events of the day he probably wasn't here to apologise.

"That's ok, I was finishing anyway," I lied, anything to stop him apologising! "Could you err, close the door though please though its kinda cold,"

"Yes of course, sorry," he said and closed the door. Couldn't he just quit apologising?

He turned to face me again. My heart sank, I was in big trouble. He had shown me nothing but kindness since I arrived and here and now he was to lock me in the dungeons or some such. Was he really going to lock me in the dungeons? No, of course not I was being stupid. Then I remembered how they had locked up the dwarves in the hobbit. Ok, that last sentence sounded weird, I mean how the elves had locked up the dwarves in Mirkwood in the book 'The Hobbit'.

"Does my presence really have such negative associations?" Glorfindel asked. Oh dear, could he mind read, was he like Galadriel? Somehow I felt this was the wrong time to quiz him on any random powers of telepathy he might have.

_But if he's telepathic knows that I'm thinking he's really hot! Ok, stop thinking the golden-haired-blue- eyed- elf- in-front-of-you-who-can-defeat-balrogs is hot!_

"May I ask why I have earned myself such a reputation?" he asked.

"I just assume that you're coming in here to throw me in the dungeons," I replied truthfully. Glorfindel seemed taken aback.

"Now that is a very negative idea to have of me, why would I wish to do that?" he answered serenely.

"Well I take it this isn't a social call-" I started but he interrupted me.

"Where did you get that idea?" he asked. Why did he have to be so difficult, couldn't he just say what he wanted to say and leave?

"Well, I can tell, you know how you can tell!" I said slightly exasperated, this was an elf who could read my mind why was he asking me how I could tell he wasn't come here talk. "Its like your tone of voice, your facial expression, your eyes, the way you didn't come in and say 'hey Caeli, how are you doing?', that sort of thing." I paused. "You're not on a social visit are you?"

"Sadly no," he admitted. "I am here on behalf of Erestor," looked at me for a second "is there anything you would like to tell me?"

"Concerning Erestor and the colour blue perhaps?" I asked mimicking Glorfindel's composed voice and expression, trying desperately not to laugh.

"Yes," he answered simply.

"No," I answered just as simply and went to fetch another towel for my dripping hair.

"Do you deny the incident happened then?" he questioned, watching me. I rubbed my hair in the towel and then threw it on my bed. This was really starting to annoy me, I wanted to get changed and I was tired of adjusting my towel to keep it from slipping. I went and stood in front of Glorfindel.

"Glorfindel, I wouldn't lie to you," I said looking him directly in the eyes, "Since you ask yes there was an incident involving blue dye and Erestor this morning however if he wishes to discuss it he can come here himself. I don't want to argue with you. But," I said walking over to a pile of clothes and grabbing them, "I do want to change, so if you don't mind," I gestured in the direction of the door.

"There is a screen behind you, you can change behind that," he stated. Oh my god, did this guy enjoy winding me up? Did we not have a discussion on teen mortals? I looked at him. He sat down on my bed, universal body language for 'I'm not going anywhere'.

"Why do you have to be so DIFFICULT!" I shouted the last word but immediately regretted it. He looked hurt, evidently people didn't usually shout at him here. I sighed and when behind the screen to change.

"I just need to talk to you," he said almost pleadingly (if great elf lords plead).

"Ok, ok I'm sorry," I said pulling my top over my head and pulling on some jeans. I emerged from the screen.

"Now that wasn't so hard was it?" he asked. I rolled my eyes as he went to sit on a chair and I sat on my bed opposite him.

"What else have you got on your list of things to talk to me about, apart from Erestor?" I asked knowing the answer.

"On my list, only Erestor," he sighed.

"I've already.." I begun but he cut me off.

"Please hear me out." I he paused to make sure he had my full attention. Erestor doesn't wish to speak with you because he feels he cannot converse with you in a civilised manner," he explained.

"Oh, so that's what we're doing here conversing?" I asked scornfully.

"No, we're talking," Glorfindel sighed.

"Why can't he talk normally to me then?" I demanded.

"Because he feels he cannot talk with a traitor." said Glorfindel

"A traitor? I thought we were just spies? Now we're traitors?" I exclaimed, how could I have got worse simply by being here?

"Not both of you, you." said Glorfindel solemnly. I just stared at him and suddenly felt very vulnerable, up till now everything that had happened had happened to both of us, I didn't understand.

"Me?" I asked in barely whisper.

"He believes you are of the Haradrim," Glorfindel said quickly as if wishing to get it out in the open.

"What…?" I asked in disbelief "Why?"

Glorfindel just looked at me sadly. Then it clicked.

"My skin…" I murmured, "because I have slightly tanned skin…" Glorfindel nodded quickly and then averting his eyes from mine said:

"He wishes to have you killed for the treachery."

You could have heard a pin drop.

Silence.

I looked at Glorfindel's face for some sign he was joking. There were no such signs. Eventually he brought his eyes to at mine.

My eyes spontaneously filled with tears and I started shaking. This was sooo not happening. I mean first off it was sooo Mary Sue, second off…was it so Mary Sue? _Oh my god he wants to have me killed…KILLED. _I could feel my heart beat getting faster and faster until I was sure Glorfindel could hear it as well.

As soon as the teas begun to roll down my face Glorfindel went immediately over to me, his face changed into a picture of pity. He knelt in front of me and took my hands.

"Caeli, I won't let it happen, you must believe me." he pleaded. This just made me cry more for some reason. He hugged me to try and comfort me. As you probably guessed it didn't actually work. I cried even more.

"You don't believe I'm from the Haradrim do you?" I asked shakily. He moved back a little so that he could look into my eyes.

"If you say you are not, then I will believe you," he said fixing his ocean blue eyes onto mine.

"I'm not," I sobbed, I didn't want to come here and die! That wasn't supposed to be the story, I still hadn't seen a hobbit! "I just, just come from a different world," I said hugging him again for reassurance, he just felt all-knowing and for someone who is nothing-knowing that's a very reassuring thing.

"Caeli, I give you my word no harm will come to you while I am here, it may be just that he was particularly annoyed this morning because of what happened."

"But it's just stupid!" I sniffed, trying to come to my senses., "I mean kill me? As in properly kill me dead?" I asked, I mean surely that sort of thing just didn't happen right? I mean what on earth had I done in my life to wish for something so almost laughably dramatic. I was just a kinda wimpy teenager who was more than a bit out of her depth with this whole elf thing. Generally I reckoned it was best not to take life too seriously but right know I felt it was kinda best I should.

Oh, and of course if the whole 'traitor' thing really wasn't enough there was the added nervousness of a very fit elf sitting in front of me and…. well…being really sweet! Oh yeah, and he looked so hot when he was worried! _Ok, I really should be worrying about impending death right know…and don't even try and look sweet your hair is a MESS and your face blotched bright red and you know it!_

"I don't know how serious he is, it is not in his character to jest about such matters if that is what you mean," he sighed.

"Why did you tell me?" I asked

"Tell you what?"

"Well that Erestor wants to kill me,"

"Surely you would want to know if someone wants you dead?" he looked genuinely shocked. I thought for a moment, sniffing every now and then. So not sexy, but tough.

"I'm not really as brave as you," I began then realised how childish that sounded. Glorfindel was smiling at me though, "and if I can do nothing about him thinking what he thinks of me then I'd rather not know. Sorry, I'm just not very good at bravely facing up to facts." well, he has got to know I'm a wimp at some point.

"Yet you're brave enough to admit that," I couldn't help thinking that perhaps he was searching for good things to say about me, let him search!

"Heh, its stupidity not bravery," I laughed a little.

"How ever you want to put it, I will remember in future not to tell you of such things. Now then," Glorfindel said pulling up a chair next to the bed where I sat huddled. "I want to know down to every last detail why a very blue Erestor disturbed my meal this morning. I couldn't help laughing a little at this memory.

I put my arms round my legs and propped my chin on my knees and began to retell to a highly amused Glorfindel exactly why Erestor was blue.

I finished this faithful account (well I missed out a few bits like me not being able to climb a tree and that sort of totally irrelevant stuff). I looked anxiously at Glorfindel. He was going to think it was so immature… however he was smiling so it was ok, or he was pretending to be ok with it (I really do have insecurities).

"That's a lot of trouble to go to," he commented leaning back in his chair.

"Well I didn't really have anything else to do that morning." bad explanation, yes I know.

"Then we must find you things to do in the mornings!"

"Like?" I wondered what on earth I could possibly do in Rivendell apart from admire the trees, and flowers, and birds, and rivers etc. Which was lovely, once in a while.

"What would you like to do?"

"I dunno," I said truthfully, how sad is that? Glorfindel thought for a moment and looked at me as if considering me.

"How would you like to learn to use sword assuming you haven't already?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows, didn't they have rules against girls fighting?

"Only at a very elementary level of course," he added. Thoughtful as his offer was, I knew one thing I didn't want to do – learn to fight. No way.

"Well, firstly I really wouldn't be good at it and secondly I'm scared of anything sharper than a pen…err quill." did they have quills in Middle-earth?

"You could start off with the blunt wooden training swords," he suggested.

"Well, maybe, but its not just that I'm scared of sharp things I would have to trust the person I was learning from and I don't know the instructors you have here." I said and really it was true, I wasn't going to let just anyone attack me with anything wood or metal. That would just be stupid!

"You know me," he said smiling. _Whoa, there is no way a balrog slayer could teach me, and that is a fact._

"But you're the Balrog slayer!" I said needlessly, I'm sure he knew that he was the balrog slayer, it's the sort of thing you remember in your life killing balrogs, not that I would know of course.

"You know a lot about me," he commented.

"It's just a story I heard, a lay if you like you know the song about you?" I said hoping to god that someone had written a song about him.

"I see," he said, he looked mildly flattered, I emphasise MILDLY, you could only just tell it.

"Anyway," I said changing the subject, "I really couldn't train with you,"

"Why ever not?" he said looking puzzled.

"Well you're the balrog slayer!" I repeated as if this explained everything "I've never held a sword in my life!" as he still looked confused I attempted to clarify, "I would waster your time, there are better elves you could be teaching, I don't deserve to learn from a balrog slayer! Balrog slayers are just totally out of my league!" wasn't that much obvious to him looking at me blotchy faced and soaking wet hair?

"I have slain one or two orcs in my time as well you know," he said grinning.

"That's not the point!" couldn't he just stop annoying me? "The point is I would feel guilty taking up your time, hell I feel guilty taking up your time now never mind every morning!"

"The point is also that I have never taught a mortal girl, I am intrigued to see if it can be done."

That was just mean, he knew I could never refuse now, insulting the female race like that, he'd pay (or maybe not).

"Ok, I accept your challenge to be taught by a balrog slayer!"

"Very good, I shall meet you at nine o'clock in the training grounds," and with that and a nod/bow thing he left closing the door behind him.

I had almost forgot the whole Erestor situation. Almost.

Ala and Tin: Thank you to all you lovely reviewers out there! We love youvery much!


	8. Chapter 8

Gandalf: I think that it is high time that an air of sense and sensibility was restored to this disgrace of a disclaimer.

Ala and Tin/rattle the bars of their cage/

Guardian fell beast: ROAR!

Ala and Tin/stop rattling/

Gandalf: ANYWAY, I need a volunteer to do the disclaimer, normal people only, thank you!

/silence from all the characters who have previously featured in the disclaimer/

Tin's pot plant: ME!

Gandalf: Whattttt? You... it... thing... plant... are normal? Save me from the talking plant!

Legolas/sigh/ fine, I'll do the sodding thing, with Glorfindel!

Glorfindel: So, ahem, Ala and Tin own Ariel and Caeli, Tolkien owns the rest. And the fell beast over there owns Ala and Tin, so it owns Ariel and Caeli as wel…

Legolas and Glorfindel/see Ariel and Caeli approaching with demonic grins/ ARGH! EVIL FANGIRLS/get in the cage in an attempt to hide/

Ala and Tin: OUR CAGE! FOUR IS A CROWD!

Fell beast: Oh for god's sake shut up all of you!

**Chapter 8**

**Ariel's POV**

After making peace with Erestor, I asked Legolas for a guided tour of Rivendell. He showed me everywhere interesting inside, and it was amazingly beautiful, but it was July, and the sun was calling to me.

"So, what do you think of Imladris so far, Ariel?" Legolas inquired.

"Well, it's gorgeous, but it could be improved with a herd of stampeding rainbows" I laughed at the expression on his fact.

_Confusing Elves seems to be a talent of mine_

"I'm just crazy, rainbows can't stampede. But it'd be really weird in a good way if they did, and the leprechauns would have to hang on tight when the rainbows ran, otherwise the rainbows would run off with the leprechaun's little pots of gold, and the leprechauns might never be able to find their gold or their rainbows again," I pondered as to whether leprechauns existed in Middle-earth.

_Who knows if they even have rainbows here?_

"What is a leprechaun? And what is their connection to rainbows and pots of gold?"

I explained to Legolas all about the little green men and their pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. He seemed interested in the little story, and asked if it was really true in my country.

"Nope, of course not. It's just a story made up for children. Although no one can ever walk to the end of the rainbow, so maybe it is. Every Sunday that I went to the park with my dad when I was little, if there was a rainbow we'd run as fast as we could to try and get to the end of it before it moved and we'd have to start again. I always had my head right up in the clouds when I was little and my dad always went along with it."

"I used to play games with my father, too. When he wasn't in court or with his advisors, we used to go to our special garden and play in the trees. I remember one time we ended up throwing food at each other. Needless to say, that was the last time my mother let my father bring a picnic." I grinned at the thought of an Elven King covered in cheese, throwing a cake at his son. And then laughed very loudly at the thought of said Elven King jumping into a tree and shouting 'me wants bananas!'

_Oh God, take the image of Legolas with a banana mushed on his forehead OUT of my mind before he thinks I'm a mad laughing lunatic. Although that assumption wouldn't be all that far from correct._

Sometime in between me speculating on the consequences of a rainbow stampede and our little trip down memory lane, we had wandered out and along a path that presumably led somewhere. The two of us sat down – well, Legolas sat, I sort of flumped – down onto a comfy looking patch of grass, near a nice-smelling herb bush of some sort.

We continued telling each other stories of our childhoods, until the conversation kind of ran out and we just lay there on the grass sunbathing, staring up at the sky contentedly.

"Ariel, do you know how to fight?" Legolas inquired.

"Um, I can slap hard, but I don't suppose that's quite what you meant." I replied contentedly.

"No, it wasn't. Would you like me to teach you how to use a bow?" he offered.

_Oh my god oh my god oh my god! Did Legolas just offer to teach me archery? Ok, yes he did. Oh no, stupid fangirl brain approaching… think zebras! Think of the purple spotted zebras!_

"Um yeah, that'd be great! But I'm warning you, I'll be really terrible at it." I knew perfectly well that I was not a Mary-Sue and therefore would be hopeless at anything violence-wise. Besides, my eyesight wasn't that wonderful to be honest, and I figured that after squinting down the arrow I'd be seeing double bulls-eye.

"Well, you'll have a good teacher." He grinned.

_Oh my god did I just see an arrogant elf? Ok ok, it's the truth. Still!_

"Hmm… do I detect a smirk, Legolas?" I teased. "You wouldn't be laughing at a poor defenceless girl, would you?"

"Oh of course not Ariel. How could you ever think that I could do such a thing?" he said, looking wounded.

I poked him and he rolled over away from me. After that, we just lay on the grass quietly, watching the clouds go by.

"Legolas, did you ever play that game when you look up at the clouds and see if you can see shapes in them?" I asked.

"Yes, I used to play that with my father quite a lot when I was younger."

"Oh good, then what do you think that cloud looks like?" I pointed at a random fluffy white blob floating high in the sky.

"I think it looks like a pillow. What about that one?" He pointed at another random fluffy white blob, and I informed him that it looked like a polar bear. We played that game for a while; although there weren't many clouds, the breeze kept changing the shape of the clouds that were there.

"Hey, Legolas, don't you think that whoever can't think of what it looks like should have to do a dare?" I suggested, with a grin on my face. I was well known for creating… ahem, unusual dares for losers of games.

"A dare?"

"Yeah, a dare is when someone dares you to do something that they think you won't do and you have to do it." I explained.

_Honestly, is he implying that elves don't play Truth or Dare? They are missing out on a WHOLE lot of fun._

"Alright then, what will the dare be?" Legolas inquired.

"Hmm… loser has to… um, I don't know, I'm trying to not make it too evil."

"Should I be regretting agreeing to this?" Legolas gulped.

"I know!" I grinned. "Loser has to… kiss Elrond!" I could practically hear the thud as Legolas' jaw dropped to the floor.

"What!"

"So, Legolas, what do you think that cloud looks like?" I ignored his shock. Our little game continued until Legolas grinned and pointed at a boring, nondescript blob of a cloud, and I gulped.

_Where is my muse when I need it?_

"Um…….. that cloud looks just like a…….. um……… it looks like a cloud!" I finally said triumphantly.

"That doesn't count!" I rolled my eyes at the elf acting so totally retarded.

_Honestly. How childish. And annoying. And he is going to get a slap if he dares suggest I kiss Elrond._

After that, the whole dare thing kind of evaporated and we just stayed there on the grass. I was thinking about home, and Legolas was humming some tune. Then he stopped humming, and I thought that he had fallen asleep with his eyes open.

"My Lord, I am seriously worried about the safety of Imladris presently," said someone walking along the path towards where I was.

"Why, Erestor?" inquired someone else.

"Have you not noticed that the Caeli girl has much darker skin than anyone born in the civilized parts of the world?" said Erestor.

"Yes, but why is this a matter of importance?" asked the second person. I was intrigued to know why Caeli and her skin colour was so detrimental to the status of Rivendell.

"Do you not think that she is a Haradrim?" said Erestor.

_What a git! Hasn't he heard of the expression 'half-Chinese'? Well, no, but still!_

"I do not believe she is, Erestor. If she was a Haradrim spy, why would she be travelling with Ariel, who is clearly not from Harad?" said a third voice.

"Glorfindel, you seem to have befriended Caeli, so your judgement would be clouded on this matter. Lord Elrond, there is not an easy way to phrase this, but I believe that as a spy she should not be allowed to live," said Erestor.

"But what about Ariel, Erestor? You cannot kill Caeli for being a Haradrim traitor and not Ariel, when the two girls were found together and come from the same place, but you have absolutely no reason to assume Ariel has ever even met a Haradrim. If you accuse one, you accuse the other as well, and you have no reason to accuse Ariel of this. I really do not think that you can possibly have Caeli killed," replied Glorfindel.

I stared blankly through the bushes at the three, who had stopped to talk, and tried to comprehend what was going on. Only one thought was going through my mind, and it was paralysing me with fear that it would come true.

_He's trying to kill my best friend…. He wants to kill her…_

I gasped, and looked at Legolas, who was also staring in the direction of the three elves. I could hear their footsteps coming closer and realised that I could not stand to be anywhere the racist bastard that wanted to kill my best friend for having tanned skin. I grabbed Legolas' hand and pulled him to his feet, then ran along the path away from them, dragging him behind me. I heard the startled exclamation from Glorfindel, who evidently saw us,

"I think she heard us."

"YES I DID!" I screamed back at him.

I ran until my legs refused to take me any farther, then collapsed onto the ground next to the bank of a stream. I had tears running down my face as I just sat there, pulling grass up as I cursed Erestor in about fifty languages.

_I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him I hate him!_

Legolas sat down next to me and let me cry as long as I needed to. I knew that since I had arrived in Middle-earth, I had been way too emotional for my own good, switching from happy to hyper to grumpy to sad to happy in the blink of my eye, but being in a different world where no one trusted me and I didn't fit in was completely overwhelming. I was subconsciously trying to hide my confusion by covering my true emotions up with exaggerated ones, and right then I just couldn't cover my shock and fear up.

"Ariel, I trust that neither of you are spies. You say that you are from England, will you tell me of this country so that I can help you and Caeli?" Legolas quietly said to me, once I had cried as much as I could and had no more tears left.

"It's really hard to explain because I have no idea where it is in relation to here, although I know where it is, which doesn't make sense." I looked at Legolas, who stayed silent, waiting for me to continue. "Basically, England, Scotland, and Wales, are three countries which are on an island. And me and Caeli are both from England. And before I came here, I was on holiday in New Zealand, which is a country on the other side of the world from where I live. I'm not sure exactly how far it is, but I'd guess it's about 10000 miles. We were camping, and we were in our tent in the middle of a field when a storm started, and I think we came here when lightening struck the metal tent pole." Legolas looked slightly confused.

"How did you travel such a great distance by lightening?" he inquired.

"Well, to be honest there's three possibilities. The first one is that I'm unconscious and this is a hallucination, which is probably the most likely, because I'm living a story. The second option is that this place is real, and me and Caeli come from a different world. The third option also assumes that this place is real, and me and Caeli come from the future."

"What do you mean, you are living a story?"

_Oh. What do I say?_

"Um, well, this is going to sound the craziest thing yet, but... back home you're famous. Rivendell is famous, you're famous, Middle-earth is famous. You're all characters from a book actually, and the book was made into a film. Which is REALLY hard to describe, but a film is kind of like a vision of a story that you can see when you look at certain objects. You and Elrond even look quite like you did in the film. What I know of this world's story is pretty detailed actually."

_I have to say, that is one very interesting look of amazement on Legolas' face._

"How much do you know of us? And what is the story about?"

_Nooooo. That is the worst question he could possibly have asked!_

"Erm, well, I know some things about the past, going right back to the creation of the world, and I know about most of the Valar, but I don't know it in detail." I hoped that he wouldn't inquire about the future.

"So what you do know a lot about is the future?"

_Damn, he did._

"Um, yes. But before you ask, I am not going to tell you your future, you can decide that for yourself." I decided to make this clear right from the word go.

"But you know your own future."

"No, I have absolutely no fucking idea what is going to happen to me and Caeli! If I knew what was going to happen I wouldn't be scared about finding out!"

"But you said that there is a story, surely you have heard this story and therefore know your own?

"I've read the books and seen the film, but neither me or Caeli are in it! The timelines go back before now, but us coming here isn't on them! We're not here in the story we know! Not in either version!"

I suddenly realised that Legolas probably didn't believe me. I didn't know why I hadn't realised before, but it seemed very very obvious to me as I sat there waiting for him to say something. Which he didn't, so I decided to say something to break the silence.

"And now you don't believe me and you think I'm lying so you'll probably want to chop both of our heads off, so if you don't mind I'll go and call a priest to read my last rites." And I stood up and twisted round to see that I had got a grass stain on my beloved shorts, right on my butt. After that dignified examination of my person, I began to walk away from him, not knowing where I would go or what I would do, but knowing that I needed to get away before I started crying again.

"Ariel, please don't leave. I was simply thinking about how you got here and why." Legolas said, and I turned round to look at him. My treacherous eyes had started watering again, and I stared at him, surprised that he had not yet called me a traitorous liar.

"Yes, I think I would like to hear more of your homeland, too. Please sit down so that we can talk," said someone behind me. I turned around to see Elrond standing there.

"Is there actually any point? Because I doubt that you believe me either and I really would like to go and talk to Caeli once more before we get burnt at the stake or beheaded or whatever form of execution you employ here." I didn't mean for it to come out quite so rudely, but oh well, if he was going to order me dead then I wouldn't go down politely.

"Do not fear, Ariel, I have no intention of having either of you killed. I would, however, like to hear more about your home, because I have to admit that it is hard to believe that you come from a world where you know a story about the future of this world." I gaped at him.

"You were listening!" I exclaimed.

_That is NOT what an Elf Lord should do! Elrond should NOT be droppin' no eaves!_

"What is your home like?" he inquired, not facing up to the question.

"It's very different from here. There are only humans and animals, no elves, dwarves, or hobbits. And there are a lot of people who all use lots of machines to do lots of things. And wars are different."

"How can war be different?" Elrond asked.

"We use different weapons which are much more effective than swords or bows. Legolas, in a few months you might get a chance to know what I mean." Legolas and Elrond looked puzzled, then decided to ignore the last comment.

"Ariel, do you have anything that can prove to us that you come from a different world?" asked Elrond. Yes, I respected him, but I really could have done with some trust and belief.

_I have no idea what to show him! If the clothes aren't enough, or the shoes, or the cd player.. wait, maybe Caeli's cd player will work here, seeing as it's battery run. No harm in trying, anyway._

"Well, I could show you the cd player, although I don't know if you'll like it very much."

And so we proceeded all the way to my room that I shared with Caeli. We passed Glorfindel on the way, who informed us that he had told Caeli of her current status in Erestor's eyes.

I went in the door, and when I saw Caeli sitting on her bed daydreaming I told Elrond and Legolas it was ok to come in. I explained to Caeli why they were here, and also that Elrond had told me that she would be fine, and she went over to her bag to fetch the cd player. As she rummaged in her bag for it, she asked how I knew what Erestor had said. So I told her that I had been sitting near where Erestor was when he said it.

Once the cd player had been found, we had a quick discussion as to what song they were going to be treated to. We quickly crossed any form of rock music off the list, and then finally decided to let them choose between May it Be from the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack, and Into the West from the Return of the King soundtrack.

"OK guys, would you prefer a song from nearer the beginning or the end of the story?" Caeli inquired.

"Pardon? I thought we were testing machinery?" asked Legolas.

"OK, choose either one or two." I suggested, feeling that this would be the easiest way to decide.

After much arguing (Elrond wanted May it Be and Legolas wanted Into the West), we just decided to play Gollum's Song, seeing as they both already knew about Gollum.

When the music began to play, both of the elves jumped, and then stared at the cd player in consternation.

"How on Arda does that work? And who is the song about?" asked Elrond.

"You hear the music when I press this button, do not ask how it works cause I don't know." I said.

"And the song is about Gollum," said Caeli.

"Your world must be a very interesting place if you can hear music just by touching a button," commented Elrond.

"You believe us? YAY!" I said, and both Caeli and I proceeded to jump up and down on the bed singing "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!"

Elrond and Legolas both smiled and left us alone so that we could partaaaay!

**Caeli's POV**

Yes, I am ashamed, we did party, and almost broke Ariel's bed. But luckily elven beds are made of sterner stuff than ours and it did not collapse under us, just made some rather worrying creaks and errr snaps…

The rest of the day passed in a whirl of jubilation. Glorfindel bless him couldn't work out why we would be so happy when my life was in danger so we gave him the whole afternoon to ponder.

Ponder he must have done as we didn't see him again until dinner when he confessed he couldn't work out what we were so happy about apart from perhaps the weather. When we informed him that the real reason for our general hyper activity that day was convincing Elrond and Legolas that we were from another world he just looked surprised and told us that he was under the impression that everyone already believed us. Of course wise elf that he was he had believed me since the first moment I had told him… so wise… and noble… such beautiful golden hair…

I would like to tell you that blue and golden hair haunted my dreams all that night, however it didn't. I vaguely remember something about a deep dark cave… where are the psychologists when you need them?

I awoke early in the morning, thus ending the said uncomfortable dream. Early? Yes early! Please don't confuse me with Ariel, it is actually possible for me too get up early (with pain yes, but its possible). The best friend in question was of course still peacefully dreaming of candy floss when I awoke to commence my fighting lessons with Glorfindel.

I quietly pulled on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a white tank top (yeah like that was going to stay white for much longer). I put up my messy dark brown hair into a high ponytail and located and few clips at the bottom of my bag to hold back loose ends.

Result? I managed looked sporty enough that I almost convinced myself I wasn't going to die due to out-of-breathness! I jumped up and down abit to wake myself up and headed out.

I then realised what anyone else in my position would have noticed long ago, I didn't know where the training grounds were. Useful.

So, I was standing outside my door looking very stupid and confused. _Ok, standing here won't help, go left or right, or even straight forward. Left, right, straight on… too complicated!_

"Caeli?" luckily Glorfindel's voice lifted me out of confuzzlement.

"Where you looking for the training grounds?" he asked amused

"Yes, I was, then I realised I didn't actually know where they are," I said looking at my trainers ashamed.

"Well then it's a good thing I realised you didn't know!" he said and with a laugh lead the way.

_He thinks I'm so dumb! Why can't I just do elegant graceful clever things? _I resolved to do something elegant graceful and clever at the training grounds. I reckoned that beating Glorfindel would count for all three. Like that was likely.

"Did you sleep well?" he inquired.

"Yes I did thank you," I answered.

"And you feel better?"

"Yes," I remembered the sobbing fit yesterday with misery.

"No harm will come to you," he assured me.

"I know, I trust you and Elrond and Legolas and everyone, it's just it's hard to get out of your head,"

"I understand," he replied. We had arrived at a big sandy pitch, there was a stand near up with a huge array of fascinating (if that's not a rather morbid word to use) weapons. I stared at then all entranced by the elvish script and gilding, trying not to look at the sharp ends.

"Caeli!" said I voice from behind me. It was Legolas.

"Hiya Legolas," I smiled. "Are you practising your archery then? I would have thought you needed no practise!"

"That's very kind of you," he smiled "but actually I was waiting for Ariel, I was planning on offering to teach her how to use a bow have you seen her?"

"Yeah, she asleep, what do you think!" I laughed "Your going to have to go and wake her, you did a very good job of it yesterday I seem to recall."

Legolas visibly hesitated "Oh, so you don't want to teach her anymore?" I asked jokingly.

"I have no doubts about teaching her, she is a lovely girl" he said quickly "but only when she is fully awake," he added. I laughed.

"Well, I'm not going to disturb her so good luck to you!" I said evilly and walked towards Glorfindel who was judging the sizes of various wooden swords.

"What do you think of this one?" he asked handing it to me.

"What I think is I'm relived you're not using proper swords," I laughed.

"Proper practise swords," he replied smiling. "Now hold the sword out, I need to see if it's the right size for you," I did as he said and he considered for a moment before telling me that that was a perfect sword for my size. He got himself a rather larger wooden sword.

"Have you ever had any sword lessons before?" he asked gently adjusting how I was holding my sword.

"Never, have you ever taught a mortal girl before?" I played the question back to him.

"A mortal yes, I taught Estel the-"

"Heir of Isildur yes I know,"

"Yes of course," he nodded "but never a mortal girl, never an immortal elf maiden actually," he said.

"You lived all these thousands of years and you've never taught an elf lady?" I asked shocked.

"Well I've assisted slightly in their tutoring yes, but I have never personally taught then," he said.

"Then you should know that I'm going to be total crap!" I warned him "and please don't hurt me!" I said whimpishly, well you can hardly blame me, in a few minutes a balrog slayer was going to attack me with a sword! Who wouldn't be scared?

"I shall try not too, if I do I apologise in advance." he laughed he blue eyes sparkling, evil elf!

"Now first I shall test your natural ability," he said and then with out warning I saw a wooden sword blade come flying at me. I looked stupidly at it and it hit me hard on the shoulder.

"Owww! That hurt!" I protested. Glorfindel grimaced.

"Sorry, I expected you to move," he said apologetically.

"Well I haven't got the reflexes of an elf or the blood of the line of Elendil." I stated crossly.

"Ok," he said and paused as if he wasn't quite sure what on earth to do about me. "Ok, first lets practise parrying." he said. "If I bring my sword towards you like this," he said and replicated the move he had done moments before but it slow motion.

I put my sword against his stopping it from reaching my shoulder again.

"Well done that's a parry," he said smiling encouragingly. Was he being sarcastic? I couldn't tell, he probably wasn't mean enough to.

"Now if I hit you here," he aimed for my upper arm, moving his sword slightly faster this time. I blocked it.

The moving a bit faster he aimed for my other side. I blocked again. Wow I was good at this! (Forgetting the fact he was moving his sword at about 0.001 mph.)

He increased the speed and I blocked most of them. Then he moved quickly on his feet and catching me unprepared he hit me squarely on the chest.

"Oww!" I exclaimed backing away from him.

"You need to move your feet faster," he said and then noticed I still had an expression of pain on my face.

"Are you ok?" he asked concerned. "It wasn't meant to hurt that much."

"Yes, well again you forget that I'm girl and my anatomy is slightly different!" I grumbled.

"Oh," said realisation dawning upon him. "I will try not to hit you there again." he said, "Am I forgiven?" he asked. I look into those beautiful blue eyes surrounded golden hair that reflected the sunlight. Of course was forgiven, well…

"If you give me a hug you're forgiven," I proclaimed. He laughed and hugged me.

"Feel better now?" he asked smiling.

"Much better thank you, shall we continue?" I replied happily. He agreed and we did continue and my ppm (parries per minute) got higher.

"Well done, you're doing very well!" he complimented me. I positively beamed with pride. "Now you just have to learn to attack as well."

"Attack what?" I asked looking around the sandy pitch expecting to see one of those practise dummies you see in films."

"Well me of course, as a practise!" he said as if it were obvious.

"You? But I might hurt you!" I exclaimed how could attack a friend? Don't the elves have any values?

"You really think you'll hurt me if I don't want you too?" he asked raising his eyebrow in a most Elrondish manner.

"Good point," I said realising the obvious, there was no way I was going to even touch the balrog slayer. "Ok, let's do it!" I said and coping his first move on me a whacked him on the shoulder. And yes, I actually whacked him, he was completely unprepared.

My moment of celebration was short-lived as then I saw that he hadn't actually even had a chance to hold his sword properly and if he had defended himself he would he probably hurt both him and me.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed running up to him. "I didn't realise, you weren't ready I'm sorry!" I said fidgeting with my sword in concern.

"Caeli dear if you run up to every orc you hit on the shoulder telling them how sorry you are your life will be a very short one!" he laughed patting me gently on the back. I smiled.

"Ok, maybe that was stupid, but I didn't hurt you did I?" I asked, I could help worrying.

"I'm fine," he said smiling, "Maybe we should have rest though you look tired." he said and lead me over to a log on the side which we sat down on.

"So how do I compare to the heirs of Isildur?" I asked breathing heavily, Glorfindel on the other had didn't look in the least bit as if he had done any form of exercise today.

"Do you want the truth?" he asked me.

"Definitely," well, I already knew the answer so there was no reason to make me feel better about it.

"You compare very badly to the heirs of Isildur, even when Estel was five he fought better than you," he commented looking at me. So polite.

"Thanks, I'm worst than a five year old now," I said gloomily putting my head in my hands, I had so wanted to be one of those girls you see in films who can do anything and everything they put their mind to. Oh well, it was not be.

"Don't put yourself down, Estel was a very talented five year old and I dare say he could challenge me now. I smiled my mind going over the scene on weathertop as Aragorn destroys just about all of the black riders.

"I dare say he could," I said quietly.

"I think you have a lot of potential though," said Glorfindel.

"Yeah right, we've already been through this you don't have to make me feel better about myself,"

"I'm not." he replied simply. I looked at him to see if he was telling the truth. "I truly believe that you could become an able fighter if you have the enthusiasm."

"Of course I have the enthusiasm!" I said jumping to my feet and running back to our practise pitch, but I changed direction half way upon seeing Ariel walking up into the training grounds.

Of course I had forgotten I was still holding my sword as I rushed to greet her.

-------

I hope everyone one enjoyed the chapter! Now Ala and Tin have an announcement!

Ala/coughs impressively/

Tin: We have a dream! ummm suggestion

Ala: That we give a free muffin to

Tin: Everyone!

Ala/coughs again/ who reviews with a good thing and something to be improved in later chapters in the story!

Tin: But if you can't think of anything to be improved just say so and we'll give you one anyway, we have too many.

Ala: And if you can't think of anything good, use your imagination!

Tin: The writers and readers of fanfiction should have very good ones!

Ala: Especially our lovely readers!

Tin: Have a lovely day all of you lovely people!


	9. Chapter 9

Ala: We've finally been let out of our cage! Yippee!

Elrond: I intervened and removed the fell beast. Of course, Ala and Tin will be back in the cage as soon as they have produced another chapter, but for now they're, um, … HOLY BANANAS! GET DOWN FROM THERE!

Tin/sitting on top of Barad-dur poking Sauron/ whee this is fun!

Ala/grins/ did you mention bananas?

Sauron: MUMMY! NASTY AUTHORESS IS POKING MY EYE! MAKE HER STOP!

Tin's pot plant: Honestly O owner, get down here now!

Tin/sulk/ no fair.

Ala: seeing as Tin is, um, sulking, I guess I'm going to have to grin and bear it. Here goes: Tolkien owns lots and lots and lots and lots! And I own Caeli, Tin owns Ariel, and the pot plant wants to be disowned. There.

Tin: Oh my god… did you just do the disclaimer? Instead of chickening out and letting the others run round trying to do it themselves/faints and accidentally falls off Barad-dur/

Elrond: Ouch… that must've hurt…

Ala: Oh my god! Get her some water!

Tin/wakes up/ Hey, I didn't faint for water!

Ala: OK, get her some… wine!

Tin: That's better/glug/

**Chapter 9**

**Ariel POV**

When me and Legolas arrived at the training grounds for my first ever archery lesson, Caeli ran to hug me. When she hugged me, a painful pointy thing stuck itself into my stomach. I jumped behind Legolas.

_Caeli's trying to kill me! Why? Argh help me Eru!_

"Hide me she's trying to kill me! Don't let me die!"

"Omigod Ariel I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Caeli gasped. I tentatively stuck my head out from behind Legolas. Upon seeing Caeli's sword dropped on the ground, I stopped using Legolas as a shield and sidled out, rubbing the part of my stomach where I had been poked.

"Ow… duh what was with the whole chopping me up thing?"

_So I'm being grumpy. Hey, I think I'm entitled to be grumpy when my best friend tries to disembowel me!_

I lifted up the bottom of my tshirt to look and see if I was getting a bruise. Which I was, a nice big one. I scowled at Caeli and noticed that she was giggling like a mad.. giggly thing.. at the surprised looks on Legolas and Glorfindel's faces.

_Ah. Obviously showing one's stomach is not considered appropriate here. Although this would probably be because female elves seem to always be wearing dresses. So I can understand that. But I'm not wearing a dress! Stop with the surprised faces!_

"Ariel, what happened to your stomach?" Glorfindel asked worriedly.

"Duh, Caeli was holding her sword just now when she tried to hug me! Don't tell me you didn't notice the whole hiding behind Legolas and screaming thing?" I said, eyebrows raised.

_Honestly… and there I was thinking that elves were clever! DUH!_

"I believe he noticed that, Ariel. However I think he was referring to the scar you have," said Legolas.

_Oh. Right. How the hell do you explain modern medicine to a couple of fictional characters?_

"Uh, it's a long story."

_Nothing like trying to weasel your way out of having to explain operations._

"Basically, she was ill and had an operation to make it better," Caeli informed them, rolling her eyes at the persistentness of elves.

"What kind of culture gives girls scars like that for illness?" exclaimed Glorfindel, looking shocked. I rolled my eyes at him.

"The sort of culture that doesn't want wonderful people like me to die of a burst appendix, so they cut it out so I didn't die." I informed them, hoping that this would stop the questioning.

"But wouldn't that be worse than any illness?" Caeli and me sighed in unison, and the four of us sat down on the grass so that me and Caeli could explain.

"No, and you guys could really use knowing about modern medicine." I said, thinking of all the people who would die in the upcoming war, who would have lived if they had been on Earth. Possibly including Haldir, one of my favourite elves.

"Ariel…" Caeli warned me, presumably thinking that I was about to tell them WHY they really needed modern medical knowledge.

_Honestly, does she really think that I'm stupid enough to actually TELL them that there's going to be loads of gory battles in the next year? My best friend is supposed to know me better than that!_

"Have I perhaps misunderstood part of this conversation?" inquired Legolas, with a confused look on his face.

"No, of course not deary," I said, with a wave of my hand indicating that right then, our superior medical knowledge made US the educated ones and the ELVES the primitive ones. And let me tell you, that was a good feeling to have.

"Well, basically, back home we're a lot better at treating illness and wounds than anyone around here is. Not that I'm suggesting that your elvish medicine doesn't work, but could even Elrond actually save someone who had part of their intestines cut out?" said Caeli. We both laughed at the expression on the two elves' faces when Caeli said that.

"Caeli, are you saying that where you come from, it is possible to have a wound like that and survive?" spluttered Glorfindel. Yes, he spluttered. He did not say it gracefully or glow with the light of the Eldar when the proverbial inner lightbulb switches on. He stared at the two of us and choked in shock at the concept.

"Yup, that's how I got the scar. But I didn't get wounded so that I had to be sewn up, I was ill and so they had to cut the ill part of me out." I confirmed that medicine had, in fact, advanced this far, and prepared to answer a whole lot of questions.

"That must have been terribly painful, I don't know many elves that could cope through that amount of pain," said Legolas.

_Ah. Here comes the anaesthetic explanation._

"Um, actually, when you have an operation you get anaesthetised. That means that you get medicine put into your veins that makes you fall asleep, basically. Well, that's the short explantation, anyway."

"Ariel, don't you mean explanation?" inquired Caeli.

"Explanation, explantation, whatever." I really didn't care about the shortcomings of my grammar/spelling/choice of words/imagination.

Needless to say, Caeli and me spent an hour trying to explain various illnesses and treatments to Mr Inquisitive numero Uno (Legolas) and Mr Inquisitive 2 (Glorfindel.)

A while later, once Legolas and Glorfindel's curiosity had been satisfied, Caeli and Glorfindel wandered off to do some more sword training.

_Go Caeli… go learn to kick Erestor's sorry butt right into next age!_

"I believe that you were about to have an archery lesson when we got sidetracked," said Legolas, getting up off of the grass.

_Bloody elves! He really needs to stop being so damn graceful! It's really infuriating! Ok calm down, just picture him falling into a vat of bean soup and getting hit on the head by a crouton for invading its territory… ok, don't. Shut up brain!_

I ended up laughing out loud at that mental image, and earned myself a very odd look from Legolas.

"Hey, Legolas, could you do something for me?" I asked sweetly. He looked wary, no doubt because of the Hall of Fire incident with Erestor.

"It depends on what it is…" he replied cautiously.

"Could you stop giving me odd looks every time I act weird? Because I do a LOT of weird things, and I wouldn't want you to pull a muscle." He grinned, and agreed.

_Drool drool drool…. He looks so hot when he smiles. Not that he doesn't look hot when he's not smiling, but I am seriously about to faint. Drooling causes dehydration, ya know!_

"So, where's this archery range? Training grounds, whatever you call it. Cause I really need to learn how to shoot various evil creatures, Erestor being one of them… joking. I'll leave the git-slaughtering to Caeli."

_I really need to stop thinking out loud._

"I think that Elrond might prefer that you use your arrows on orcs, rather than his advisor. And depending on how much you want to have another screaming match with Erestor, it would probably be a good idea to avoid the mention of the colour blue anywhere near him." Legolas teased me, leading me in the direction of… god knows where actually.

I saw through the trees some elves with bows and arrows, and noticed that me and Legolas weren't heading in the direction of the aforementioned elves with bows and arrows.

"Uh, where are we going?" I inquired.

"We're making a slight detour before your archery lesson. I am going to show you a sight that I think you might wish to see," he smirked.

_Well, elfy, we really don't need to go anywhere far for you to take your shirt off… now that IS a sight that I'd like to see. I doubt that's what you're planning to show me though… damn._

"Well, a girl can always hope…" I thought.

"Hope what?" inquired Legolas curiously.

_Oh SHIT, how much of that did I just say out loud? Oh god…. Cue ground opens up, gobbles me up, burps… nah, no such luck._

"Ummm I was just thinking… how much did I just say out loud?" I made a valiant effort not to go red, and failed.

"You said 'well, a girl can always hope'. And now you have gone bright red." smirked Legolas.

_Thank god I didn't say all of what I was thinking! Thank Eru, thank the Valar, thank the pretty Afghan birdies!_

I issued a thankful prayer, marked URGENT, to every deity I could think of, plus some that I made up.

"Um, I was just wondering about what this sight is," I said, and thankfully Legolas let the subject drop, although I was pretty sure that he could guess vaguely what I had been hoping for.

He led me to beside a stream, when he told me to be very quiet, and we began sneaking upstream, behind a row of bushes. I observed a grin on Legolas' face and a few seconds later I distinctly heard an incessant grumbling. We snuck behind a bush, and when we peered through the leaves I saw a very angry Erestor, shirtless, trying to wash the blue dye off of his skin. I held my hand over my mouth, trying to stop myself from laughing and giving our hiding place away, when the grumpy blue elf suddenly stood up and announced to the wind how much he hated Caeli and Elladan for dyeing him blue.

_Now if the guy wasn't such a bastard, that would be an extremely pleasant view. However, he is a bastard, and therefore I will not sit here drooling. Instead I will laugh over the fact that his gorgeous chest – NO! DOWN BRAIN! – is currently a lovely shade of blue. And I will now stop thinking about his chest because drooling is SO not a good look._

"By Eru, I cannot STAND that girl and that infernal twin! I never thought that I would say that about one of the offspring of Lord Elrond, but they are driving me to madness! And curses be upon whoever supplied them with this dye! I can't get it off!" and then he lapsed into angry Sindarin. Thankfully he was facing away from us and was ranting so loudly that he didn't notice the bush which was shaking due to the fact that me and Legolas were both silently giggling.

Unfortunately, Erestor then said something in Sindarin that caused Legolas to lose his elven self-control and burst out laughing. Erestor spun around, and seeing the cackling bush, advanced towards it with a glare that could have fried the Ring. Legolas scrambled out of the bush, and grabbed my hand, dragging me out. We ran for our lives, giggling like children, and I honestly couldn't restrain myself from calling back to Erestor.

"Thanks for the view mate, I would've liked it even more if you were slightly less blue!" After that comment, Erestor looked slightly confused, probably because he didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult. Whatever he was thinking, he stopped chasing us, and instead stood there cursing us. Of course, that is until he realised that he'd chased us back too far, and he had an audience. An audience of giggling female elves, staring at his chest, and also an audience of smirking male elves, laughing at his blueness. A few females glared at me as Legolas continued running towards the training grounds, still holding my hand as a means of preventing me from collapsing in laughter. I guess that they just didn't like the fact that the oh-so-gorgeous Prince Legolas was… I don't know, actually.

Once we reached the training grounds, I sat down on the grass to catch my breath. However, I forgot that I was still holding Legolas' hand, and therefore he fell over next to me.

"Oops sorry" I grinned at him.

"So… I hope that added some amusement to your day?" he inquired politely.

"Of course. And you were right, I did like the sight. Although I don't think blue suits Erestor." I sighed dramatically and started giggling at the absurdity of the whole event.

"Really? I thought it was quite becoming actually." I stared open-mouthed at Legolas, and then realised he was joking and burst out laughing.

"Well, maybe it was. I think blue would suit you better though. Wanna go and get some dye to find out?" I grinned, hoping that he would take up the offer.

"I would rather not, but I suppose it would be quite amusing… for everyone else."

_Darn._

"So, anyway, what did Erestor say that made you start laughing and make him realise we were there? I was kind of enjoying myself until you did that, you know." I pretended to scowl at him for ruining my nice little Erestor's-chest-admiration session.

"I don't actually know if I should translate it for you… I don't think that it is very suitable for a lady's ears…" said Legolas, trying to wriggle his way out of telling me.

"Honestly. I hardly think that I won't have heard something worse. WHAT IN THE NAME OF MORGOTH'S BALLS DID HE SAY?" I exclaimed, desperate to know what Erestor had said. This last comment caused Legolas to go bug-eyed and then burst out laughing again.

"That's exactly what he said!"

"What? What d'ya mean that's what he said?"

"He said exactly that in Sindarin! He was ranting about what Elrond said to him after your argument with him and then he said 'and what in the name of Morgoth's balls did he say to me then?'" I looked at Legolas, and then burst out laughing.

I jumped when Glorfindel and Caeli approached us, and looked at the grin on Caeli's face and the sort of surprised look on Glorfindel's face.

"Legolas, have you actually even shown Ariel how to hold a bow yet? I have not seen you enter the training grounds at all today!" said Glorfindel, eyebrows raised. I turned to look at Caeli, who had an eyebrow up and smirked as she looked from me to Legolas and back to me again.

"Oh, there was a more pressing thing I wanted to show Ariel than the use of a bow." Legolas brushed off the question, presumably realising what Caeli and probably Glorfindel thought we had been up to, and thinking that this explanation would correct their incorrect opinions. Unfortunately, I could just see the 'I bet there was' look on Caeli's face, and I decided to explain in slightly more detail.

"We decided to go and watch Erestor trying to get rid of the blue dye. Which was quite amusing actually. I got the idea that he is now more than a little annoyed at Elladan as well as Caeli." Caeli raised an eyebrow at me and I laughed.

"Then he chased us back, nearly to here, until he realised that he had forgotten his shirt," added Legolas, and all four of us laughed.

_Now, all I need to do to achieve complete happiness is to get Legolas to remove his shirt. Then I'll be a happy girl._

**Caeli's POV**

I bet Ariel is wishing it were Legolas that forgot his shirt…I wonder what Legolas does look like with his shirt off…and Glorfindel as well….

I was brought out of these pleasant thoughts by three whispered words from Ariel.

"Erestor's coming, run!" she said. And we all did, Ariel and Glorfindel in one direction and me and Legolas in another.

I kept running until I was sure we were out of sight of the training grounds. I rested against the trunk of a big tree, panting. Legolas of course was not at all out of breath and seemed to find it funny that I was. Evil, malicious elf!

I sat at the base of the tree and rested my head against it. Legolas sat beside me.

"Caeli?" he asked after a long silence.

"Yes?"

"Please understand that I do not wish to offend you in anyway, I am merely curious," he began, I looked at him puzzled "but you evidently do not come from the same place as Ariel due to the differences in your skin tone yet you say you both come from England, I'm intrigued,"

I laughed, "I'm sure you don't want an extended edition history of my ancestors but basically one of my parents moved to live in England from a hot place, a bit like Harad I suppose, just not an evil place like Harad!"

"I see," he said and had the courtesy not to question further. A good thing as I really wasn't in the mood for explaining about aeroplanes.

I closed my eyes, still trying to get my breath back, and started humming the music to an advert.

"Do you like music?" he asked suddenly.

"Hmm? Me? That wasn't music, but yeah, I love music." I said smiling.

"Sing something," he asked.

"Sing! No way!" I laughed, if this elf prince thought I was going to randomly sit under a tree and start singing he had another think coming. Elves might sing a lot on their own, but not me.

"Ask Ariel to sing, I'm sure she'll gladly sing to you!" well, I said the last bit quietly.

"Ariel? Does she like music?" asked Legolas and I could have sworn his tone brightened, wow, he really was interested in her! Then again, there may have been no change of tone and I could have been completely mistaken.

"Yes she does, more just pop music for her though, rock in particular," I replied.

" Pop music? Rock music?" he questioned completely baffled.

"Different genres of music, pop as in popular – what most people like, and rock music as in… well you have to hear it to know what I mean. You'd probably like classical music more though, I dunno I could be wrong, it just strikes me as a more elfy genre," I said.

"Elfy," he said shaking his head and laughing and I laughed with him. "So Ariel likes classical as well?"

"Ariel? You're kidding me? She wouldn't touch most of it if it were covered in chocolate!" I told him. He frowned. "No, she doesn't like it," I clarified.

"Do you like this 'classical music'?" he asked looking at me. Oh so he hadn't forgotten about me then.

"I like more than Ariel put it that way, but I just love almost every type of music."

"So does Glorfindel." Legolas said. I couldn't help a huge smile spreading across my face as the image of his wise beautiful blue eyes filled my mind. I was just about to ask more about Glorfindel when Legolas asked:

"So what else does Ariel like?" awww sweet he was so besotted with her…in her dreams…

"Chocolate, Green Day, Orlando Bloom, socks, cheese, Orlando Bloom, complaining about her nose, ice cream, shopping, sleeping, Orlando Bloom…"

"What's Orlando Bloom and Green Day and chocolate?" Legolas asked puzzled.

"Who," I corrected, I couldn't help it "Orlando Bloom is a person who _she_ thinks is very handsome, looks a bit like you actually, and Green Day is a rock band that makes music. Chocolate isn't music though, it's a food." I said, to tell the truth Legolas looked just about exactly like Orlando Bloom but I figured I better not tell him that.

"So basically," I said to conclude "should you ever wish to make her happy turn up at her door, preferably sometime in the afternoon, shirtless, with chocolate and or alcohol, with greenday playing in the background and offer to take her on a shopping spree!"

"I'll remember that," he said.

"Dislikes?" he asked. I assumed he meant Ariel's dislikes not mine, I felt so neglected! No, really I didn't mind.

"Classical music, people dissing err being rude about Orlando Bloom, maths, school in general, nasty people, Latin, not a lot really"

"I didn't understand a lot of that," Legolas stated truthfully

"I doesn't really matter, all her likes and dislikes in our world don't really apply here anyway, apart from universal things that can be found be found anywhere, like fit guys." I looked at him and giggled like at little girl and lay down on the grass.

The grass was long and green and was dotted with daisies here and there. I breathed in the scent and savoured it. No pollution, no pesticides, no nothing just naturalness and peace. I thought peacefully of Ariel and Legolas as a couple and started giggling again.

"What's so funny?" asked Legolas

"Nothing, nothing really, I'm just being silly." I replied.

"I should tell you something Legolas," I said suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"She wants a pet fell beast."

"WHAT!" he exclaimed.

"She wants a pet fell beast," I repeated lazily smelling a daisy. Legolas' blue eyes appeared in front of me.

"You jest"

"I jest not good sir, ask her yourself." he started to get up as if to find Ariel but I grabbed his arm. "Not yet, first tell me about Glorfindel,"

"Ask him yourself," Legolas said.

"But-" I began

"Caeli, there are few people who know Glorfindel that well, mostly because he has lived longer that everyone here," he said looking at me seriously in the eyes. "But should you wish me to I will put in a good word for you," he said grinning and added "though its hardly necessary,"

"Good man," I said "Umm, good elf." I corrected myself.

He laughed and walked off, presumably to ask Ariel about her desire to have a pet fell beast.

I remained lying in the grass under the shade of the tree thinking. Why did I want Glorfindel to think highly of me? He was hot yes of course, but that went for any elf in Rivendell. 'Its hardly necessary' did Legolas mean Glorfindel liked me? I closed my eyes and saw him blue eyes before me again. They were so deep and full of wisdom. I remembered the time had sat and comforted me in my room and how I had felt better immediately. _He killed a balrog! _He had this wonderful air of mystery and nobleness about him but at the same time he could be so kind and caring. My mind went back to when I had hit him earlier today, I had felt so guilty and worried about him…

_He's so old though!_

_One thousand years older, ten thousand years older what does it matter, besides he looks twenty!_

_He probably thinks you're stupid, and he's said himself you're crap with a sword!_

_But he wanted to train me!_

_And now he's probably regretting it!_

_True…_

I felt the blades of grass through my fingers and gazed at the blue sky above me through the green leaves. I heard the bird song mix with the silent music in my head. I smelt the freshness of clean, perfect air and sighed. He probably just thought I was an annoying silly young girl who would hopefully leave soon.

This made me feel sad, very sad.

So passes another chapter. Ala and Tin inc. hope you liked it and would like to say and very big thank you to reviewers (you just make us so unbelievably happy 'tis untrue).

Ala and Tin inc. would also like to remind readers that although has banned review responses in chapters we still respond to the reviews but as PMs. So to all you lovely reviewers who we couldn't PM, we love you and we love your reviews too!

Thank you!


	10. Chapter 10

Tin: I am squashed.

Ala: I'm more squashed.

Tin: Are not.

Ala: Are too!

Elrond/sigh/ while the mortals bicker, I believe that it would be appropriate to do the disclaimer.

Tin/points at Elrond/ ITS ALL HIS FAULT!

Elrond: I gave them a laptop so that they do not have to be let loose from the cage in order to write the chapter. And their boredom has turned to silly squabbling… females./rolls eyes/

Ala: I want my teddy bear/Elrond tries to slot it through the bars and fails/

Tin: Get an eyebrow instead! This is the tenth chapter and celebration is called for!

Elrond/backs far, far away/ … gulp …

Fell Beast: Oh for gods SAKE! Honestly, I'm seriously considering resigning. Anyway, Tolkien owns it all.

Ariel and Caeli: But he doesn't own us/they jump on the fell beast's back/ let's go for a ride, fell beasty! Giddy up!

Ghost of Tolkien/turns over in grave/ thank Eru that I don't own those two… if I did I'd disown them.

Ghostbusters: Back to your grave, oh mighty one/everyone salaams to Ghost of Tolkien/

**Chapter 10**

**Ariel POV**

"Erestor's coming, run!" I hissed at Caeli, Legolas, and Glorfindel. We scattered, running in different directions away from Erestor who was proudly bearing a scowl fit for the Mouth of Sauron. Glorfindel and I ended up running in vaguely the same direction, and I collapsed on the ground once we were well out of sight of Erestor.

_Bloody elf isn't even out of breath! That's the second time in what, half an hour, that I've been running for my life, and the second time in half an hour that I've been running for my life alongside an Elf who doesn't even look the slightest bit pink from running! Bloody Firstborn!_

"Glorfindel, would it ever be possible for an Elf to get tired from running away from other elves who wish to do them harm? Because I'm kind of bored of being the only tired one. Company would be appreciated." I said this, meaning it but also joking in a way.

"No, I do not believe that running for one's life is an activity that tires the Firstborn."

"Damn… I was secretly hoping that elves weren't perfect. Well, perfect unless they're blue, obviously." I smirked at the memory of Erestor cursing Caeli and Elladan in various different languages. Legolas had informed me that he did, in fact, swear in Dwarvish a few times.

"How long have you and Caeli known each other for?" Glorfindel inquired.

_Oddly sudden topic change…_

"Um for about five years. We met up when I joined her school. How come?"

"I was just wondering. When are your begetting days?"

"Um, we celebrate birthdays instead of begetting days, but mine is July 23rd and Caeli's is August 22nd."

"Yours is quite soon then. Are the two of you the same age?" asked Glorfindel.

"Yeah, we're both 15. I was planning on being in New Zealand on my birthday, so I wouldn't have had a big party, but I could have gone shopping in Wellington to celebrate. I'm not sure exactly what Caeli's planning to do. Well, what she was planning to do until we got here." I sighed, thinking of New Zealand and shopping trips.

"Is 'shopping' also a favourite activity of Caeli's" inquired the Balrog Slayer.

"Yup, it's about her favourite thing to do. Except, of course, for staring at pictures of Elijah Wood and eating chocolate." I could have sworn that Glorfindel's face fell when I mentioned Elijah Wood, and I suddenly grinned, realising that Glorfindel was probably kind of… interested… in Caeli, if you know what I mean.

"Oh… who is Elijah Wood? Are they courting?"

_Yup, definitely 'interested'._

I couldn't repress the laugh that came out of my mouth.

_She wishes!_

"God no, he's a famous actor who lives on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to Caeli and who is also permanently beset by screaming fangirls. So don't worry, she's still available if you're, ahem, interested." I grinned at him, and I do believe that the mighty Balrog Slayer blushed slightly.

Unfortunately, I was unable to spend time trying to set Glorfindel up with Caeli, because Legolas arrived. He sat down on the grass next to me, and I decided not to embarrass Glorfindel by discussing his little crush.

"So, Ariel, what gifts were you hoping for on your beget – I mean on your birthday?" Glorfindel asked nonchalantly, as if my birthday was the very topic that we had just been discussing.

"Apart from a pet fell beast?" commented Legolas. I stared at him, Glorfindel stared at me, and Legolas stared at – god knows what.

"Uh, who said that I did?" I said, wondering how on earth he knew that.

"Caeli told me. And I am afraid that I would not be able to procure one by your next birthday, so is there anything else you would like?"

_Um… you to walk around shirtless forever._

"Um, a balrog would be fun if I could find a trainer for it that I could afford." Legolas looked at me, and burst out laughing. Glorfindel rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Well, I need to go and try to placate Erestor before he hits anyone over the head with a dusty tome from the library, so I shall leave you two to your… interesting conversation about pets." I thought I saw a smirk flicker across the Balrog Slayer's face, and then it was gone as he turned and walked off in the direction of the library.

"Oops, I didn't offend him or anything by talking about balrogs did I?" I asked Legolas worriedly.

_Get a grip Ariel, telling the Balrog Slayer that you'd like a pet balrog is NOT the most tactful thing to say._

"Oh no, of course not, he is just ensuring our safety from Erestor," he reassured me.

Of course, Elfy just had to go ahead and ask me more stuff about stuff. Not that I minded him asking me things, but some things don't make good conversation topic. Not with males, anyway.

"Who is Orlando Bloom?" he asked casually.

"He's a guy from my world who plays you in the film. You actually look identical to him. Only his pointy ears aren't real."

_Wait… where the hell did he hear the name 'Orlando Bloom'? Argh… Caeli, I'm gonna kill you if you said anything about me liking him!_

"Exactly alike? Or are there any differences between us?" I looked at him and realised he was teasing me. I wasn't exactly sure why, but I decided to tease him right back.

"Hmm…. Well…" I leaned very close to him to properly inspect his face, and made a great show of staring at him and then contemplating. "I think that you have one less eyelash on your left eye than he does, but I couldn't be quite sure without him here to compare." He sort of blinked a few times, and then grinned.

"Are you sure about that? It is dinner time, maybe you could find a picture of him to compare."

_Whaaattt? I have a funny suspicion that Caeli will need murdering…_

"Legolas…. What exactly did Caeli say to you about Orlando?" I inquired.

"Did I say that Caeli told him about your like of him… oh, I mean, did I say anything implying that Caeli even mentioned him?" Legolas smirked at his accidental (I hope) mention of my crush on Orly.

_That girl is gonna die…_

"It was kind of obvious, how else would you know his name?"

"I could have looked into the Mirror of Galadriel."

"Yeah right. In your dreams. So, what did Caeli say to you, oh great Avoider Of Questions?"

"Well, if you want it word for word, she said 'Orlando Bloom is a person who _she_ thinks is very handsome, looks a bit like you actually.' She didn't mention that he apparently looks exactly the same as me. Does that make me handsome?" He grinned, presumably enjoying my embarrassment.

_NOOOOOO!_

"Well, that extra eyelash really does matter to me, ya know…" I decided to NOT fall at his feet and drool as an answer.

"In that case, we had better go to dinner immediately so that I can get the nourishment I need to grow that eyelash. I wouldn't like you to think I was ugly, in fact I believe I would die of a broken heart if you did." I think that Legolas decided that 'tease Ariel' was less fun than 'flirt with Ariel', although I think he found the 'tease Ariel' option quite appealing.

"Well, that doesn't sound very much fun, so I guess we better get going to dinner so that you can start growing that eyelash. If I had been with Caeli I would probably have recited some silly poem to her, along the lines of 'one eyelash to rule them all, one eyelash to attract them, one eyelash to bring them all and in the darkness bat them.' Obviously, this was not the place to recite that, and therefore I just took the arm that Legolas offered and we walked to dinner.

Once we got to dinner, still discussing the attributes of the absent eyelash, we sat down at the table, opposite Elrond and Caeli, who were busy discussing, believe it or not, the merits of brown vs black mascara. I stared at my plate, having filled it with nice delicious vegetables and some cheese, and took a long hard look at the chopsticks. I stared at them, silently exerting all my willpower to beat their obnoxious behaviour towards me into submission.

_Chopsticks of doom, you will not conquer… err starve me!_

"I am NOT going to be forced onto a diet by two inanimate pieces of wood who happen to hate me!" I muttered to myself, earning an amused glance from everyone in the vicinity except for Legolas, who laughed.

"Ariel, when are you going to accept that you need me to teach you how to use them?" grinned the Prince of Mirkwood. I sighed and admitted that he was right.

"But you shouldn't be helping me, you need to eat more so you can grow that extra eyelash."

_So I'm not going down without a fight. So bite me._

"But I do not think that I could eat while seeing you suffer as you do."

_Oh trust me, that elf is going to suffer when he least expects it._

"Look, are you feeding me or insulting me?" I demanded, hungry. Our little argument ended up with him finally teaching me the art of chopsticks, and I managed to eat an entire meal with them. Caeli, having won her argument with Elrond by reminding him that he didn't actually know what mascara was, turned to me and smiled.

"Honestly Ariel, has it always taken an Elf Prince to teach you to do everything? I've tried to teach you to eat with chopsticks every time you've stayed at my house, but it takes Legolas practically spoon-feeding you for you to grasp it?" She laughed, and I decided to annoy her as revenge for her little joke.

"Well, I guess you just didn't have enough eyelashes for the job," I smirked, looking over at Legolas, who immediately made a show of asking me to count how many eyelashes Caeli had.

_Hehehe nothing annoys Caeli more than missing out on the point of the joke. Well, a few things do, cheese up the nose being one of them. Ooh that could be fun to implement. But nah, she might be expecting revenge, you never know._

I looked around me at some of the stuffier, more formal elves, who had raised their eyebrows and tutted quietly when I came in attached to Legolas' arm. I guess that tshirts and shorts just really weren't that common in Rivendell. However, right then, I really didn't care, because I was elated by two things: one- learning to eat with chopsticks and two- hanging around with Legolas all day had been most enjoyable. After we had both finished, Caeli practically dragged me up to our room, where she proceeded to demand details on my day with Legolas.

**Caeli's POV**

We were both sitting on the floor of our room wrapped in blankets. Ariel had told me what in great detail how displeased she was relating to my little chat with Legolas. Honestly, I just don't understand this girl, she says she like Legolas and then when I try to get them together she acts as if I were Sauron himself!

Anyway, the Return of the King soundtrack was playing off my mini speakers in the background and we had moved on to the subject of the pros and cons of chopstick use.

"But you see you can't cut with them!" Ariel was arguing.

"But the food is already cut up when you use chopsticks,"

"You haven't got anything to do with your free hand when you use chopsticks though!"

"Well you can do your hair!"

"They take ages to learn to use anyway,"

"I'm sure it took you just as long to learn to use a knife and fork, and it didn't take you that long to learn with a certain elven prince teaching you did it?

"Just SHUT-" Ariel began but then the music changed from the explosive energetic ending of 'Ride of the Rohirrim' to the gentle mournful chords of 'Twilight and Shadow' and Ariel whispered instead of shouted "Just, just listen to the music,"

"Gladly," I whispered back and we both fell silent, gazing out over our balcony to the last homely house.

The next day came bright and cheerful as it always did in Rivendell. I lay in bed for awhile after I woke up, Glorfindel had agreed that I should rest today and that we would give training a miss. _Good thing too _I thought as I flexed my limbs, every single one of my muscles were aching. I tried to remember what I had been dreaming of, something about purple carrots…

_Oh well, I'm sure it wasn't that important… _I got up and pulled on some clothes. I then addressed the issue of my hair. Fact number one: It was a mess. Fact number two: I really wanted to try the plat that lots of the elven ladies here seemed to wear.

After much twisting and tangling I realised that it was just getting into a bigger mess than before so I decided to compromise and I went for a normal plait with a mid parting (you know the one your mum does for you when you're about seven?).

Thus prepared I walked out of our door and walked straight into Legolas.

"Sorry," he said

"Sorry," I said. We laughed.

"I suppose Ariel hasn't awoken yet?" he asked

"No, were you going to practise with her?"

"Yes," he sighed "but maybe I should leave it for a while," delaying tactics! "As a matter of fact there was something Elrond wished me to talk to you about, he was wondering is could play some music from your world for us,"

"Ariel is better at performing than me ask her, what instrument do you have?"

"I do not know what to call it in your tongue, have a look in the hall of fire yourself." he suggested.

"Ok, I will, but you should ask Ariel first," I said. I waited. He waited. None of us wanted to wake her.

"You seem to be the official-waker-up-of Ariel-in-chief so I think you should do it," I smirked.

"You're her best friend," he argued back.

"Not in the morning," I replied.

"But-"

"Where's your famed courage? Honestly!" I grumbled and decided to take matters into my own hands. No, that does not mean I went to wake up Ariel myself, that would be suicide, it means I opened the door, pushed Legolas in and closed it again. And waited.

In a few seconds grumbling noises could be heard and Legolas exited.

"She's awake," he said

"Good,"

We waited for about five hours then at last Ariel came looking pristine and perfect.

"Morning Ariel," I said.

"Caeli has suggested that you play some music for us tonight in the hall of fire," said Legolas.

"Why me?" she asked.

"You're the better performer," I said "I think they have a piano type thing so you'd defiantly be better than me.

"I don't know much by heart that the elves would like though,"

"Chopsticks!" I said suddenly. We laughed and Legolas just looked puzzled.

"Don't worry we won't play chopsticks to you so you don't have to worry about that." Ariel laughed.

"What about classical stuff Caeli, you're better at thinking of that than me, any suggestions?"

"Something relaxing," suggested Legolas. I thought for a while. Then a light bulb came on in my mind (figuratively speaking of course).

"The Brahms Lullaby!" I said. Blank stares from both mortal and immortal.

"You know the one!" I persisted and hummed the first few bars to Ariel.

"Oh that! That's by Brahms?" she asked surprised. I gave a 'yes dear 3 year old Ariel' look.

"I can't play that!" she protested.

"I'll write some music for you, you play it."

"Deal." she said. We shook hands in a business like manner.

"Enjoy your lesson!" I called to her as I walked towards the hall of fire and winked. I knew she would!

I arrived at the hall of fire in a few minuets and looked inside. There was a wooden box on legs to one corner of the room. I went up to it and opened the lid. Sure enough it was a piano, or piano type thing anyway. It was beautifully decorated with paintings on the outside and the keys were all white (yes even the 'black keys' were white).

I was tempted to play chopsticks on it to test it but it seemed like a crime on such a beautiful instrument so instead, I settled for a few scales and arpeggios. It sounded lovely as I suppose only an elven instrument can.

I saw some paper by the piano and a few pencil type things. Evidently there was a resident composer in Rivendell! I just hoped he or she wouldn't mind if I borrow some. I took a pencil and a few sheets of paper and went back outside to find a suitable tree to sit under.

I spotted a perfect one in the middle of the field and went over to it and plonked myself down under it. I drew out a few staves onto the paper. I started to write. As I wrote I hummed the tune softly to myself.

_Lullaby, and good night,  
With pink roses bedight,  
With lilies o'erspread,  
Is my baby's sweet head.  
Lay you down now, and rest,  
May your slumber be blessed!  
Lay you down now, and rest,  
May thy slumber be blessed!  
_

Yes, I hummed, I didn't sing but the words went through my head. I tapped out the rhythm on my knee as I scribbled down each note. Every now and then I crossed out a few bars and rewrote them.

Then suddenly something landed in front of me. I jumped up in surprise and hit my head on the tree branch above me.

"Oww!" I exclaimed crossly glaring at what had landed out of the tree. The what turned out to be a who, and the who turned out to be…

"Glorfindel! Why didn't you tell me you were here you scared the life out of me!" I glared at him.

"I apologise, but I did not wish to disturb your work," he said motioning to my papers.

"Well you have now!" I said crossly, "and my head really hurts!"

"Sorry,"

"That's ok," _No, wait I was supposed to be cross with him! Oh, who cares! _"So why did you decide to randomly jump out of the tree?"

"My curiosity got the better of me," he said smiling, "May I see?" he asked holding out his hand for the music I had been writing. I gave it to him.

"Did you compose this?" he asked.

"Me? No, no of course not! I'm just writing out the melody for Ariel to play, I'm not that good at piano." Glorfindel nodded.

"Can I borrow that pencil?" he asked. I handed it to him. Resting the paper against the tree he made a few alterations to the bass line and added bits here and there. He discussed some parts of it with me and crossed out some notes with my permission.

When he thought it was done he wrote it all out again (there were so many scribbling out in the first part that Brahms himself would never have been able to make sense of it) and then handed the completed manuscript back to me.

"Thank you," I said _will not blush will not blush will not blush_

"Your welcome, please don't hesitate to find me if you need any help again," he said smiling "I hope to see you soon." and with that he walked off.

I looked back down at the music in my hands covered in fair elvish writing. I wasn't quite copperplate, but something similar and stood out against my plodding ordinary scribbles. I sighed, _I really should give up trying to be an elf, they look different, walk different, talk different, fight different and even write different._

Commiserating I headed off in the direction of the training grounds to see if Ariel and Legolas had actually got round to any archery this time…

Hi! Thank you all so much for reviewing! Reviews taste really nice! Nearly as nice as chocolate hint hint sadly you can't send us chocolate, so reviews will do nicely! This chapter's gift to all lovely reviewers is… a baby pot plant! You see, Tin's pot plant is a spider plant which keep on growing new baby plants, so you can all have one! And now that you've all had a botany/horticulture/agriculture lesson (ok, so I don't know which. Oh well), you can all review! We love you all!


	11. Chapter 11

Elladan: Hi! It's my turn to do the disclaimer!

Elrond: Yeah yeah yeah… you are so going to wimp out.

Ariel: Oh my god Elrond, did you just say what I think you just said?

Caeli: I can't believe you said yeah yeah yeah!

Galadriel//whaps Elrond/ what has gotten into you?

Elladan: ANYWAY, the disclaimer!

Elrond//rubs bump on head/ Whoa, like, oh my god, he's actually doing it! Oh well, my bad…

Ariel: I think we've been teaching him too much slang, you know, Caeli.

Elrond: Ya know, I think y'all right!

Caeli//faints/

Elladan//tries to get everyone's attention but fails/

Fell Beast: ROAR!

Tin's pot plant: LISTEN TO THE DISCLAIMER PEOPLE! Elladan comes bearing… um, the disclaimer!

Elladan: Ok people, listen up now: Tolkien owns nothing but Ariel and Caeli, Ala and Tin own the rest.

Tin: Uhm… Elladan… much as I wish that what you just said was true…

Elladan: Oops, my mistake. Ok: Ala and Tin own nothing but Ariel and Caeli, Tin owns her pot plant, and Tolkien owns the rest.

**Chapter 11**

**Ariel POV**

Two days after me and Legolas had fun spying on Erestor, I was distracted by my dreams of pasta sauce and purple monkeys by someone whispering in my ear. I glared at the person without opening my eyes, and hid my head underneath the blanket. The someone removed the blanket from over my head and poked me again. I rolled over in my bed and tried to ignore the irritating poker person. The person did not desist, and I rolled over again, falling right out of my beloved bed onto the cold evil floor.

_EVIL EVIL EVIL PERSON! THEY ARE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE SEVERE PAIN!_

"Piss off!" I grumbled, curling up on the floor like a hedgehog.

"Wake up Ariel! It's a beautiful morning! Uncurl yourself, hedgehog!" said the person, in a horrible infuriating singsongy voice.

_Did I ever mention that I absolutely loathe 'morning people'?_

"Take your beautiful morning, put it in a cage, and feed the key to a hobbit!" I grumbled. I sat up and opened my eyes to see Legolas standing by my bed, grinning from ear to ear. He walked round the bed to where I sat, and offered me a hand.

"Care to stand up, my hedgehog?" he inquired, grinning. I scowled at him and ignored the hand.

"Look, eyelash-deficient princeling, bugger off and stop reminding me that I have total bed head!" I snapped. Legolas regarded me for a moment, with a hurt look in his eyes, and then left the room quietly. I looked at the closed door for a moment.

_Why did I just say that? OK, I know why I said it: I'm always grumpy in the mornings. But that was really mean! What should I do?_

Without a further thought, I jumped up and ran out of the door, and seeing Legolas walking away down the hall I sprinted after him. Once I caught up with him, I wrapped my arms around him in a big hug and refused to let go.

"I'm sorry I was mean to you, I shouldn't have been mean to you and I didn't mean it and I feel really stupid now…" As soon as I said that, I burst into tears, and all the emotions that I had been hiding from everyone, even myself, came to the surface. I cried and cried, and once Legolas realised that I wasn't going to be stopping anytime soon, he took me back to my room, and sat me down next to him on the bed.

"Ariel, don't cry, please. Truly, I was not offended by what you said, I know I was teasing you and that you hate mornings." This did not serve as much consolation, although I managed to give him a half-hearted twitch of my face that was a hint of a smile.

After a few minutes of me sobbing onto his shoulder, Glorfindel came into the room, looking for Caeli. After ascertaining that she was not present, he hurriedly backed out and left the crying girlfor Legolas to deal with.

"Ariel, what's wrong? Please tell me, I might be able to help. Has Erestor said something to you?" Legolas questioned me anxiously. The problem was, I didn't know how to explain what was wrong.

"Everything's wrong!" I settled for 'everything' as I was having difficulty thinking of things that were going right at that point in time.

"Your archery isn't. You did very well yesterday at your first lesson." Legolas tried to console me with my first archery lesson, which did NOT help.

"No I didn't, I was crap at it and I couldn't even shoot the arrow. I kept thinking I was going to shoot myself in the foot. I'm crap at everything I do and it's not fair! I bet Caeli would be able to do it perfectly, she always does everything right. And I bet she'd be better at using a sword than I would be too." Some of what was troubling me was beginning to form itself into coherent sentences which I was managing to say, in between sobs and hiccups.

"Oh, Ariel, you are a beginner at archery. That was your first lesson ever, you couldn't expect to be perfect using a bow after only a few hours."

"But I don't know if I'll ever be able to get better at it! I don't know how long I'm going to be here or if I'll always have to stay here! I don't even know how or why I came here! And I really miss my family. I hadn't seen them for two weeks before I came here, and I don't know how long it's going to be until I see them again. I really really miss them," I said, and began crying even more. Legolas wrapped me into a big bear hug, which I appreciated, and I scooted closer to him so that I was basically sitting on top of him crying onto his shoulder.

"I'm sure that you will be back home soon," he murmured to me.

"But I don't know if I want to go home yet! I really miss all my family and friends and things, but it's so relaxing here and everyone is so nice! And males actually have manners!" I had finally admitted what was really bothering me. Being in a place where guys did stuff like opening doors for you just because you were a girl was a really nice change from Chavland. And I had subconsciously been letting myself get used to the atmosphere in Rivendell, and I was wondering if I actually wanted to go back home.

"Have you been upset over this for long?" Legolas asked. I sniffled, and contemplated.

"No not really. I just did what I always do when I'm getting out of my depth."

"What do you mean?" I think that he was just trying to distract me to stop my crying (his shirt was drenched from me crying on his shoulder), but to be honest I figured that anything to distract me from crying was a good thing.

"I mean, that when something's too much for me to cope with, then I just kind of block the feelings out and I end up feeling everything a lot more than normal. I just act kind of hyper and exaggerated only I'm not exaggerating. Only after a while I can't block the bad feelings out any more and I act really really stupid like I am now." I hiccupped, and tried to ward off more tears by burying my face in his neck. Which, incidentally, smelt very nice.

"You're not being stupid!" Legolas said loudly, and I removed my face from his neck to look at him. Thankfully, he didn't look too angry that his shoulder was soaked, and he smiled at me.

Now that I had got the confusion out of my system, I had stopped crying and I poked Legolas' shoulder gently.

"Um, sorry, your shirt is kind of wet," I said, uselessly.

"It doesn't matter. I can always get a dry one."

_Good good, I wouldn't want you to have to walk around shirtless._

"Don't, I like that one." I said, smiling at him. Well, it was a really nice shirt actually.

"I like it too, but I prefer it dry," he said, grinning. Suddenly a very nice thought occurred to me. I contemplated it for a moment, while looking at the damp patch. I decided to try.

_It's worth a try!_

"Um, I can dry it for you if you like. It'll only take five minutes." I said, hoping that he would accept the offer.

"And how do you propose to do that?" Legolas inquired curiously.

"Well, I have a little machine that will dry it really fast." I said, thinking of the little portable hairdryer that was in Caeli's bag.

_I'm sure she won't mind me going through her bag this once… she'll understand it was for the greater good._

"How would it be able to dry it any faster than normal?"

"Well, if you give me the shirt, I'll show you. You can even do it yourself if you like. It's not exactly difficult."

_Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes!_

Legolas shrugged, and agreed. I waited for the shirt to come off. Which it didn't do. I looked at Legolas. Legolas looked at me.

"Um, shirt?" I requested.

"I can't take it off when you're sitting there. You're in the way." He grinned, and sheepishly I stood up. He then removed the shirt and chucked it at me. From the look on his face, he wasn't that used to standing shirtless in front of mortal females. I decided to spare him as much embarrassment as possible and immediately went to Caeli's bag and found the hairdryer.

After the shirt was dry and also lovely and warm, Legolas came over to reclaim the shirt. I put it behind my back and smirked at him.

"Ariel, please may I have my shirt back?" he asked politely.

_Whoa… that's so sweet! Not 'give it' or 'gimme that now'. He said 'please may I have it back.' This guy is so sweet._

"Hmm… I think I deserve a reward for drying your shirt so nicely before you get it back." I grinned at him as he realised that he had forgotten his manners.

_Tut tut!_

"Forgive me, Ariel. I offer my humble thanks to you. What reward do you require?" he said. Obviously, he was exaggerating, but the thanks were still there. I pretended to contemplate hard.

"Hmm…. Welll.. I don't know… Well, seeing as you've been so sweet to me, a hug will do." Legolas visibly relaxed. Obviously the poor elf thought that I was going to ask for Erestor's head on a plate or something equally foul!

"A hug seems like a fair reward," he said, and he hugged me.

_That elf gives GOOD hugs!_

I sighed, and hugged him back. Hugs had always been a huge comfort for me. Whenever I was upset, my friends had learnt to just hug me until I cheered up. Suddenly I froze, and grabbed onto his hand as hard as I could. With my other hand I held my stomach. I heard Legolas calling my name, but I couldn't reply. I closed my eyes and I felt him pick me up and carry me somewhere, but I had no idea where he was taking me or what he was saying to me. My mind felt oddly disconnected to my senses, except for the sense that was telling me that my appendix scar hurt like hell. I tried to open my mouth to ask Legolas what was happening but all that came out was a half-hearted scream and then I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was in a big airy room with a high ceiling, and I had a worried audience surrounding me. I rubbed my stomach with one hand and winced. A concerned-looking Elrond immediately began asking me what happened. I just told him that my scar started hurting a lot and that I could remember Legolas carrying me and then fainting. After a while, everyone drifted downstairs to supper except for Caeli and Legolas. I was about to tell them to go and eat something when I realised that his shirt was still in my room.

"Oh bugger… your shirt's on my bedroom floor," I said, and Caeli's eyebrows shot up about ten metres.

"It is, is it?" she smirked, looking from me to Legolas.

"Caeli, it was wet so I was drying it with your hairdryer. Then I ended up here. Wherever here is." She looked disappointed at this boring reason for Legolas' shirt being on my floor, and offered to go and get it so that he could leave the room without causing a scandal. She also informed me that 'here' was the House of Healing.

"I can just see the headlines in tomorrow's papers: MIRKWOOD PRINCE WALKS AROUND SHIRTLESS. It'd be like page 3 only with Legolas instead of some random girl." I said, laughing. Caeli, after explaining to Legolas what I had meant by page 3 and distilling a horrified look from the elf in question, left to go and fetch the shirt to avert any possibility of that occurring.

"Ariel, what happened to you? You just froze and then looked like you were in great pain and didn't talk so I brought you here." Legolas looked so worried, and I decided to tell him the truth instead of the half-truth I had told Elrond.

"I'll tell you if you promise not to tell Elrond." I said.

"I promise… but as long as you tell him if it is important that he know."

"Ok, fair enough. Well, you know I told you about how I got the scar, I just had a weird type of flashback only it wasn't exactly a flashback. What happened was, I watched the operation happen, so I could feel it like I would have done if I had been awake. So it wasn't exactly a flashback because when it happened I was asleep so I couldn't feel it."

_And let me tell you, watching yourself being operated on really isn't a bunch of laughs._

"And the pain that you felt was what you would have felt, had you been awake?"

"Yup, I think so anyway. Um, did I hurt your hand when I grabbed it? I didn't mean to if I did." I tried to divert the topic away from me having freaky flashbacks.

"No, I just had a bruise." I smiled, relieved that I hadn't broken his fingers or anything.

_Wait… HAD a bruise?_

"HAD a bruise? Exactly how long have I been unconscious for?" I demanded, panicking.

"A day. Elves heal fast," he reassured me.

"What a waste of a good day. When can I get back to my room?" I asked.

_Hey, I'm not fond of hospital beds. And my makeup is in my room. I must look like a scarecrow._

"Well, Elrond will not let you go until he has established the cause of your illness." Legolas looked pretty uneasy at being the one to break this to me. Probably because I had just told him NOT to tell.

"Oh great…. What am I supposed to do now? I don't want to have to talk about it anymore. Once was enough. Do you think he'd make me stay here until I died of old age?" I asked. I liked Elrond a lot, but I really didn't want to have to think about my stomach any more.

"I doubt that he would go to such extreme measures. But he won't let you out of bed for a month at least if you don't tell him."

"A month! I'm not missing my 16th birthday because of having an overactive imagination!" I continued to splutter about this for a minute or two, before realising that I had said all that needed to be said on the subject and that not only the topic, but my mouth also needed to be closed.

"That reminds me. You've told me what you'd like for your birthday, but not when your birthday actually is. When is it?" Legolas asked.

"July 23rd. Do you think Elrond will kill me if I throw a party?" I asked, after glancing round to check that the Elf Lord in question had not snuck back into the room at some point.

"I doubt that he will be averse to such festivities. Although from what you have told me of your home, he might disapprove of the type of party. I doubt that he would approve of the type of party that you described to me. What do you call it? Clubbing?" Legolas said, obviously remembering our conversation after my archery lesson where I had described clubbing to him.

"Well, firstly, clubbing is different from a party. And secondly, Caeli's speakers don't play loud enough for me to re-enact a club. I was more thinking along the lines of having whatever party is normal around here in the Hall of Fire if I'd be allowed, then having a pyjama party in my room for my friends." I reassured Legolas that clubbing was not going to happen in Imladris any time soon. Not because of me, anyway.

"What is a pyjama party?" Legolas asked.

"Um, depends on what you want it to be. Basically, it involves a group of people staying in one person's house, ok room, and staying up all night doing fun stuff like getting drunk, doing dares, and having pillow fights. It varies depending on who's there. If it was just me and Caeli, we wouldn't bother getting drunk, but we'd spend hours talking about guys instead. But seeing as I'd invite you, Glorfindel, and the twins, I was thinking more along the lines of Spin the Bottle…" I grinned happily at the idea.

"What is Spin the Bottle?" inquired Legolas, curious elf that he was.

"Uhm, it's a game. I'll tell you the rules next time you're drunk." I figured that he didn't need to think that I was a creepy stalker girl.

After that, Caeli came back in after having been unable to find the shirt among all the mess on the floor, and the three of us spent an enjoyable two hours planning (plotting?) my birthday party. The conversation kind of burned out after a while, though, and I ended up drifting off to sleep, although not until I had told myself firmly several times to ask Caeli later if she had actually been unable to find the shirt, or whether she had just figured that I'd enjoy my stay in the House of Healing a lot more if there was a shirtless Legolas sitting next to me.

**Caeli's POV**

Ariel eventually drifted off to sleep and Legolas and I were left in the room together.

"We need to do something about your shirt…" I said.

"Yes," he said after eventually taking his eyes of Ariel "You err did look properly didn't you?"

"How do you mean?" I asked confused.

"You know that time when you told me to make her happy I should turn up shirtless at her door…" he said slowly.

"Oh that! You think I… oh! No, I looked properly for your shirt and couldn't find it." I said quickly

"Well it was defiantly there when I left," he said

"Are you trying to accuse me of something?" I asked jokingly.

"No!" he replied quickly. "It probably just got caught behind some furniture or something, I'll find something else to wear."

"Correction," I… corrected "I will find something for you to wear,"

"Good point, you will thank you, could you go to my room and fetch a shirt from there?" he asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world to wander into the bedroom of male elf.

"Yeah of course," I said, well I could hardly refuse "were is it?"

"You know were the dinning hall is?" he asked,

"Yup,"

"Well go up the hill a little way from that and you'll see a group of buildings,"

"Ok,"

"The main entrance is by a large rock, go though it and my room is the fourth building on the right,"

"Right, dinning hall, hill, rock, fourth building," I looked at him to check I was right. He nodded and smiled.

"Thank you,"

"'Tis ok," I answered, "You just look after Ariel," and with that I left the room and headed towards the dinning hall.

Once I reached it I went a LONG way up the hill to find the big rock, he's such a liar! _What on earth will Ariel think when I tell her I've been in Legolas' room? _I laughed to myself imagining her face.

OK, ok stop laughing and find his room, fourth on the err left, no right, no left! Maybe it was the fifth building anyway! Oh dear… Ok I'll just go back and find him and ask him again, I will resist temptation to look in random elves' bedrooms… 

I was about to turn back when I saw Glorfindel.

"Glorfindel!" I called.

"Hello Caeli," he called back and walked over to me with a somewhat puzzled expression on his face. "Are you ok?"

"I want to find Legolas' bedroom, " I said. He raised his eyebrows.

"OK, let me rephrase that," I said quickly trying not to laugh "You know how Legolas didn't have his shirt on when you came to see Ariel?" I didn't wait for a response "Well, it was because apparently Ariel was drying his shirt because it was wet – don't ask me why cause I dunno – and then Ariel fainted and the said shirt was lost."

"Ok," he said laughing "His name should be on him bedroom door," I looked at the doors.

"It's in elvish." I stated.

"Oh, of course, come with me," he lead me up the path checking each door as he when past, "I think it's the next one on the right," he said eventually. "Yes here it is," he said and pushed the door open for me to go in.

I stood at the entrance totally awed; it was a beautiful room. It was big and airy and Ivory trailed across the walls.

"He's got a lovely room," I whispered.

"Well this only a guest room, his home is in Mirkwood so he probably has a nicer room there,"

Glorfindel said.

"This is a guest room?" I asked hardly believing it "What are the permanent rooms like then?" I asked still in awe.

"Well you can see if you like but you better get what you came for first,"

"Oh yes of course," I went in and Glorfindel waited for me outside.

I opened the beautifully decorated oak wardrobe, _wow he's a lot of clothes, _I thought _Ok, how am I supposed to choose clothes for elves… _

I brushed my hand through all the neatly hung up clothes and I noticed the travelling tunic that I assumed he would wear on the quest. _But he doesn't want to wear that now umm…. _Eventually I selected plain white shirt/tunic-like thing similar to what had been wearing before. Mission accomplished I headed back out to join Glorfindel.

"You wanted to see a permanent room?" he asked. I just grinned in response and he led me on up the path for a while longer. Along the way we met Merenon who offered to take the shirt to Legolas for me so I gladly let him take it.

At last we came to a honey coloured wood door with an emblem of a golden flower on it. The petals were carved out of the wood of the door and were plated with gold. I touched it curiously.

Glorfindel smiled at my interest. "It is the herald of my house of which I am head, and the last one left on Middle earth,"

"This is your room?" as soon as I said it I realised _stupid question._

"No, I'm showing you a random elf's room!" he said jokingly, wait a second 'random'? He was picking up my language!

He opened the door and we walked in. If I was impressed by Legolas' room I don't have enough words in my vocabulary to explain what Glorfindel's room was like. One word I could use though: golden. The whole room had beautiful golden aura even the things that didn't have detailed golden guiding on them seemed to glow and sparkle in the sun.

It was an enormous room. Enormous, colossal, immense, gigantic. I was actually more like a very big apartment. It even seemed to have its own garden sort of thing although I couldn't see it all from where I was standing.

Half of the apartment was like a study and library with beautifully carved desk with quills and paper and ink on it and behind it rows of old looking books with elvish names.

The sunlight was flooding in through the balcony lighting every corner to perfection, it was breathtakingly beautiful. Literally.

"Breathe Caeli!" Glorfindel reminded me sounding amused. I had hardly noticed I had been holding my breath and now I let in out and tried to breathe normally. "I don't want a dead body on my hands, I don't think Ariel would like me very much," he grinned laughing. His golden hair seemed to perfectly reflect the general goldeness of the room. I smiled.

"It's …amazing, well its not, it's better than amazing and if I knew elvish I might me able to find the right word, but… I don't," I said apologetically. Glorfindel laughed again.

"I'm glad you like it," he said seeming genuinely pleased. I walked over to his books and tilted my head to look at the elvish lettering.

"What does this say?" I asked him pointing at one book at random.

"Gondolin." he answered.

"Do you miss it?" I asked him.

"Sometimes yes," he said sadly. "Rivendell it a lovely place but, I believe nothing will ever quite compare to the beauty of Gondolin. You would have liked it there." I smiled and waited for him to go on.

"Do you want me to tell you about it?" he asked.

"Please do!" I said.

"Do sit down," he said motioning to a chair and he took one himself

Once we were both comfortably seated he began.

"It was built and it fell all in the first age, it was built by Turgon of the house of Fingolfin. It was built the encircling mountains on a hill that was once an island. It had many fountains because of which it was called by some 'The rock of the music of water'. I suppose it was the fountains that made me love the city so much. It was made of white rock that sparkled in the sunlight. It was truly beautiful to behold. The Eagles of Thorondor guarded it. For its protection no one was allowed in or out of the city without the permission of the King."

"Didn't you want to be able to get out of the city?" I asked, unable to comprehend what it must be like being shut up in one place for whole of my life (and longer because elves live forever) however wonderful the city might be.

"No, I don't think I did, well maybe once or twice in my youth yes I probably did wish to see the outside world but I soon realised the benefits of not being able to go out, the security I had being in Gondolin. Also no one else really wanted to go away from Gondolin so you lose interest in wanting to explore."

"I don't think I would ever survive being trapped like that, I love to travel and see new things," I said.

"Well now I'm out of Gondolin I've realised I do too, everyone has a natural curiosity within them to know about things around themselves." he replied.

I wanted to ask him about his death and Valinor, but I decided against it, another day maybe, your own death is a very personal thing.

Suddenly I noticed the sound of water falling as if from a tap, but a pleasanter sound. I gave Glorfindel a questioning look.

"It's my fountain," he said "In memory of the fountains of Gondolin, go and have a look. I followed him outside into a small garden. Well, not really a garden just a personal outside space, after all, the whole of Rivendell was a garden. I suppose elves don't need their own.

The small area outside his room was taken up by a little fountain with a pool at the base that was circled with pebbles. There were green bushes round the fountain as a sort of border between the main garden of Rivendell and this area. There was just enough room to sit in front of the fountain and I did. The sound of the water was relaxing a refreshing. I closed my eyes and heard Glorfindel come and sit beside me.

"This is a nice place," I said.

"Yes," he agreed "You're welcome to come any time you like, if teenaged… hormonal troubles get the better of you and you need to calm down." he said. I laughed.

I settled down to listen to the gentle noise of the fountain and tried to imagine the ancient city of Gondolin in all its splendour, gleaming white in the sun with Eagles circling over head.

Before I knew it I had fallen asleep.

Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for reviewing! And we hope you had a great Christmas! Tin and Ala inc. would like to wish you a very wonderful 2006 full of purple carrots, fell beasts and one-eyed one-toed rhinoceroses with orange sparkly stripes! And as Ala and Tin don't know whether everyone knows what page 3 is, it's (obviously) page 3, of a newspaper, which always has a picture of a topless girl (ew). so if you didn't understand when you read it, now you do :D Oh yeah, a cream cake to everyone who reviews :D


	12. Chapter 12

Tin: Hellooooooo to all of you! I want to tell you that I love you all lots and lots and that you are all wonderful!

Ala: Um, ignore her. She just drank a bottle of wine and is therefore slightly intoxicated.

Erestor/tuts/

Tin and Ala: SHUT UP!

Tin: If I'm so drunk, how come I've remembered that this is supposed to be a DISCLAIMER and you haven't? Elrond, tell her she's being stupid!

Elrond: I am sick of featuring in these stupid disclaimers!

Ala: So? Your point being?

Elrohir: Look, can you lot stop arguing?

Ala and Elrond: Hey, it's not our fault. Tin writes these things so its her fault/points at Tin/

Elrohir: Don't blame things on the disadvantaged… ok ok, the drunk…

Tin: I'm not drunk! Maybe tipsy, but not drunk!

Ala: Whatever! Shut up and do the darn disclaimer! You haven't done it yet I don't think!

Tin: Fine then. Tolkien owns the Lord of the Rings. PJ owns the film, we own Ariel and Caeli. I own my pot plant. Which, actually, is on holiday for the disclaimer. So I really hope you people don't just read the chapter out of love for the pot plant, because it just isn't in this disclaimer.

Ala: You can stop babbling now, dear.

**Chapter 12**

**Ariel POV**

I woke up a couple of hours later, still in the infernal hospital bed. Yes, the room was beautiful and the bed was comfy, but it was still a hospital bed and I was not allowed to get out of it. Which, in my mind, made it infernal.

"You still here?" I asked Legolas, surprised. He'd obviously not gone anywhere since the last time I was awake, because he was still minus his shirt.

"Well, Caeli said that she'd bring me a shirt from my room, but that was about two hours ago and she hasn't come back yet," he said.

"Oh. I bet she found Glorfindel and got… sidetracked." I smirked and resolved to play matchmaker as soon as Elrond let me out of prison… oops, out of hospital.

_Or, knowing Caeli, she decided to give me a couple more hours to enjoy the view._

"Or she just thought it would be fun for me to not have a shirt," Legolas commented.

"That's kind of what I was thinking she was thinking. But why do you think that?" I asked, hoping that Legolas hadn't noticed my little – ok, my big crush on him.

"Oh, just because of something she said to me three days ago, when we all ran from Erestor."

_Oh god… what did she say?_

"Hmm. Every time I talk to you, you talk about this conversation you had with Caeli. Can I ask what the conversation was about? I'm just nosy to find out what you two were saying about me."

_I really want to know WHY they were talking about me, too! It's not like I'm the most interesting conversation point in the world. In fact, in two worlds. They have TWO WHOLE WORLDS of things to talk about and they talk about me. What is up with that?_

"I never said that the conversation was about you," said Legolas.

"Yes I know that, but that's twice that you've been talking about things that Caeli has been saying, and you seem to know things that you really wouldn't know unless someone told you. Not that I'm saying that you two just spent your whole conversation talking about me or anything because obviously you didn't, but what DID she say about me?"

_Stop babbling, girl! Honestly!_

"Oh, she was just telling me your likes and dislikes, and the best way to make you happy…" Legolas suddenly stopped talking and gave off strong vibes of feeling cornered.

_What was it, an Ariel Appreciation convention? I wish…_

"And what did she say was the best way to make me happy? Including all details?" I asked suspiciously, deciding that it was time to find out exactly what Caeli had said to make him look so edgy.

"She just said to arrive at your door shirtless bearing chocolate and take you on a shopping spree if I ever wanted to make you happy." He said this very, very fast.

_I do believe you are blushing, Mr Prince person! Ok Ariel, get a grip, stop quoting Titanic. In fact, stop watching that film over and over again and fastforwarding over the bits in the middle when Rose is trying to find Jack when the ship is sinking and also the bits where she thinks Jack stole her necklace… GET A GRIP GIRL! AND STOP QUOTING THE DARN FILM JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE WATCHED IT SO MANY TIMES THAT YOU KNOW IT BY HEART! And stop watching so many soppy love films! Although, its not like there's much opportunity to watch them in Middle-earth anyway, so don't waste the energy telling yourself off!_

"Let me get this straight: She told you that if you wanted to make me happy, you should turn up at my door, shirtless, bearing chocolate, and to take me shopping?" I said this slowly, trying to comprehend the fact that she had actually told him to turn up half naked to make me happy.

"Yes, she did." Legolas confirmed, an air of embarrassment surrounding him. In fact, the air of embarrassment was so obvious that it wouldn't have been any more obvious if it had been neon pink and flashing.

"She knows me too well…" I muttered to myself, earning a grin from Legolas.

_I don't know whether to kill Caeli or hug her!_

"So she was correct in her assumptions of what you like?" he inquired.

"Well, if I was back home, yeah. But unfortunately you don't have chocolate here anyway, and you don't have shops to take me shopping in, and it's probably considered indecent to walk around shirtless, so I guess that the whole make-Ariel-happy thing wouldn't quite work." I tried to ignore the whole shirtless thing. I figured that if it were a big deal to Legolas, he'd bring it up.

"Well, I do believe that right now, I am still waiting for Caeli to bring me a shirt, so you should be happy right now," grinned Legolas.

_Well, duh, you do have a pretty nice chest._

"Well, I have to admit that I'm not averse to you not having a shirt, but my happiness is definitely going to be very compromised until I get out of this infernal bed." I sighed and hoped that Elrond would let me out sooner than Legolas thought he would.

"What is this I hear about Imladris beds being 'infernal'?" inquired Elrond himself.

_Why do elves have to sneak up and listen to a conversation like that? It is SO ANNOYING!_

"Erm, I hate anything that I have to do. If I didn't have to stay here then I'd love the bed, but apparently you're going to make me stay here for a month, so I hate the bed because it's where I'm forced to be." I tried to explain my dislike of what I'm sure were excellent quality beds.

_Well, there is one improvement that could be made. I'd absolutely love this bed if you'd stick Legolas in here with me. Hey, I can hope… ok, I'm not stupid enough to hope that. Hey, I can daydream!_

"I would not force you to stay in bed, Ariel. Is this an impression that you got from the stories that you know?" Elrond asked, concernedly. I hastened to reassure him that he wasn't portrayed as an Evillus Baddius.

"Course not. Back home, you're a lovable Elf Lord with funky eyebrows. I just don't like to mess with you seeing as you have a Ring of Power. Is it Vilya you have? And is it water or air? I can never remember. I just know who has Narya and that it's the fire one. I think." I saw his eyebrows go WAY up.

_Oops… don't the Elves all know about the Three Rings? Oh dear… and I have a funny feeling that its only a VERY select few who actually know that Gandalf has Narya? Come to think of it, does anyone know that Cirdan gave it to Gandalf except Cirdan and Gandalf?_

"Ariel, I believe that you and Caeli call that 'foot in mouth syndrome'," commented Legolas.

"Oops. Doesn't anyone know about your ring? And, um, this might sound weird, but can I see it? I just want to know what it looks like. Don't worry, I don't want it or anything. I've just never noticed what it looks like when the forging is shown in the film, I always kind of noticed Gal – I mean Lady Galadriel's because it was closest to the screen." Elrond and Legolas exchanged sort of half amused and half amazed looks and then Elrond showed me his ring.

"Ariel, you have a strange habit of referring to Lord Elrond's eyebrows regularly. Why? Are they important in the future?" I burst out laughing after experiencing a mental image of the ultimate 10th walker. I could just picture the Fellowship trailing up that mountain, with Elrond's eyebrows following them. And Elrond trying to catch up with the Fellowship once he realised that his eyebrows had gone adventuring without him. Or maybe Aragorn could borrow them, his ranger-scowl kind of needed perfection. I always thought that Rangers should be really grumpy. Well, I would've been grumpy if I was being made to sleep in the mud for my whole life. Ok, I would've been grumpy if I was being made to sleep in the mud for one night. I'm definitely more of a city girl than a country bumpkin.

"No! I just like them, that's all!" I said.

_They think I'm sane, you know. And wow, there goes a flying pig just outside the window!_

"Well, anyway, you are free to leave the House of Healing at any time, although I would advise you not to leave until you feel better," advised Elrond, after self-consciously reaching up to feel what was so strange about his eyebrows.

"Well, you're the one with thousands of years healing experience, you know what you're doing. How long do you think that'll be?" I asked, hoping that it would be soon.

"Well, how is your stomach?" I thought about it for a minute, wriggling slightly to see what hurt and what didn't.

"It's ok actually. It's only sore when I move." I was glad that I didn't hurt too much.

_Feeling ill always sucks because you don't enjoy the benefits of staying in bed all day and watching daytime tv. Not that I live to watch daytime tv, but it sure is better than trigonomical equations. Which don't exist, but hey, nothing in maths makes sense to me. Actually, there's probably some Greek git out there ready to invent trigonomical equations. Hopefully not, but if there is, I will NOT be a happy girl._

"In that case, I think we should find out why you experienced such sudden pain," said Elrond. I looked at Legolas, thinking that we both knew exactly why.

"Well, if I tell you, you have to accept that the medical stuff I'm going to have to explain is actually possible where I come from, and that I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me, you won't believe what happened yesterday, either." Elrond nodded and agreed to believe what I said as long as I promised to only tell the truth. So I proceeded to give him the short explanation of how to have your appendix taken out.

"But what does this have to do with now?" Elrond asked politely once I'd got him to understand the concept of modern surgery.

"Because I saw myself being cut open and that's when it hurt." Elrond had THE eyebrows drawn into a contemplating expression, and Legolas just looked sympathetic. Elrond retreated to somewhere to do something after a couple of minutes, and Legolas stretched out in his chair like a cat.

"I would really enjoy some food now," commented Legolas. His statement was punctuated by a loud rumbling noise from his stomach, which evidently wanted to emphasise the fact that it needed food.

"I can tell! I never thought elves would have rumbling stomachs when they got hungry. Doesn't it kind of defy the whole silent thing, if you're sneaking up on an orc quietly and then your stomach gives you away?" I asked, giggling.

"Well, it depends on how long it has been since the last time I ate. I think my stomach can be expected to be fairly empty seeing as I haven't eaten for more than a day," he said. I stared at him.

"What, since you came up here with me? Honestly, you could have gone and eaten and done whatever. It wasn't like I was awake to notice, anyway."

"Well, I was worried about you. You just screamed and fainted and didn't wake up. And I didn't want you to wake up on your own," he said.

"Aw that's sweet of you. But seriously, go and get yourself something to eat now. I don't want you to be hungry because of me. I feel guilty now. Oh, come here," I said, beckoning him closer. As soon as he got close enough I sat up, reached up, and pulled him closer so that I could give him a massive hug.

_Hey, I like hugs. And don't look at me in that tone of voice!_

He moved away from me pretty quickly, and looked at me apologetically.

"I don't want you to die," he said, completely randomly.

"I'm glad to hear it. Um, why?"

"Because every time I hug you, something bad happens. The first time you cried, the second time you ended up here, you might die next time." He looked so worried that he was going to cause my death by hugging me. It was so cute watching this immortal elf prince worrying that he was going to hug me to death. Well, there was only one thing to do. I grabbed him and hugged him. Hard. And didn't let go.

"I am not going to die because of giving you a hug. Don't be so silly. And I am not letting go until I feel like it and you say that you know I'm not going to die from overhugging. Call it a scientific experiment to prove that I can survive." I said into his ear, refusing to let go. He relaxed and grinned, hugging me back.

_Honestly, he's god knows how many hundred years old (lots anyway) and he thinks I'll die if he hugs me! Very cute, but kind of odd._

"You put on aftershave or something?" I asked, after smelling his neck. Which, incidentally, smelt very nice.

"What is aftershave? And why?" inquired Legolas.

"It's a type of nice smell in a bottle that males wear in my world. Because your neck smells nice." I replied. Well, why make up some stupid lie when the truth sounds absurd anyway?

"Oh. Thank you. But no, I have no smells in bottles." I giggled at that. It sounded quite funny, my description of aftershave sounded ridiculous when repeated in a slightly different sentence.

"It's not quite literally a smell in a bottle. It's nice smelling water in a bottle." I didn't want Caeli to simultaneously combust from hearing Legolas refer to 'smells in bottles' if he ever did so in her presence.

The nice thing about hugging an Elf is that when a human would be getting a stiff back from bending over, elves don't. I guess they're just more flexible.

"You know, right now, if you were a human, you'd be complaining about a stiff back." I commented, just in case his back was sore and he was just too nice to say anything.

"Well, then it is a good thing that I'm not a human, because I don't feel like moving. In fact, I am quite comfortable."

_Wow. Nothing like being a few hundred years old to make someone actually feel comfortable standing up and leaning over to hug someone who's sitting down. Maybe if I age lots and lots I'll be able to do that, too._

"Well, my friend, you might like to move so that you can eat. I brought both of you some food. Legolas, where is your shirt? Caeli gave it to Merenon to pass on to you," said Glorfindel, holding two trays of food.

"Well, I think Merenon must have been waylaid by someone, because he hasn't been here at all," Legolas informed Glorfindel.

"Thanks for the food Glorfindel." I said, grinning at him and taking the tray.

_I really wish they had oranges here. I could give him such a good 'orange grin'. I bet he's never seen one of them before!_

Glorfindel wandered off again, because apparently Caeli was composing some music for me to play and he wanted to try it out. I looked at the tray and saw the darn chopsticks.

_Those things are following me! Stalkers!_

After a long, slow process of eating lettuce and other green things, and more often than not dropping them from the chopsticks before getting them to my mouth, I threw the chopsticks at the wall, cursing them and swearing in ten different languages. Legolas, the clever elf, had learnt not to laugh at me when I was angry at something, and so he just continued eating his own lettuce.

"Interesting lettuce," he commented. I choked and stared at him.

"That's something I haven't heard before!" Both of us laughed, and after he'd finished his 'interesting lettuce' (obviously GM lettuce – no way could you call normal lettuce interesting) he retaught me the art of chopsticks.

"I feel like a three year old," I said, leaning against Legolas' shoulder.

"Why? No one thinks you are three years old, I assure you."

"Because I haven't been told how to use eating utensils since I was three and tried to use my knife as an axe. So having to be taught how to eat makes me feel really stupid actually, especially since Caeli can do it." I sighed, and wished that my family had gone to more Chinese restaurants so that I could have had a chance to learn how to eat with chopsticks.

"Ariel, you shouldn't be ashamed of having never used the same things to eat with. No one thinks that it is childish of you to not know how to use them."

"They all look at me strangely at dinner though. Why else would they look at me like that if they don't think I'm stupid for not being able to eat?"

"Well, everyone in Rivendell is curious about your homeland, and where you must come from to have such strange clothing."

_Ah. It's the clothes._

"I suppose. But it still doesn't mean I like either chopsticks or the idea of wearing long heavy dresses in July. And I have no idea what I'm supposed to say if anyone asks me where I come from. I can't exactly say, 'oh I'm just from way into the future' or 'oh I'm just from another world' because they won't believe me." This was something that had been worrying both me and Caeli. We'd had a few discussions with each other, trying to come up with a plan, but the fact remained that we knew nothing about the rest of Middle Earth, and didn't have anything to say to any awkward questions.

"I think that we should all discuss that very question now," said Elrond, coming back into the room with Caeli and Glorfindel in tow. So they sat down around my bed so that we could have our very own Council of Elrond. Well, Elrond didn't call it that, but I called it that in my mind, and made a mental note to christen it Roger.

I turned to Caeli and mouthed to her "_Middle-earth now stands upon the edge of a knife. It is up to all of you to decide what to do."_ Both of us burst out laughing at the same time, and we replied to the confused looks on the Elves' faces.

"We'll tell you in a few months."

**Caeli's POV**

And so it begun! No, not the battle of Helm's Deep silly, our little conference around Ariel's bed.

"I vote that we tell anyone who asks to go ask Elrond and leave us alone!" I said.

"No, that won't work," Elrond said quickly and I imagined stampedes of elves hammering on his study door demanding to know where we came from. I could see why he didn't really support the idea.

"I think we should tell them that we come from the land of the blue and yellow dinosaurs that eat mushrooms," Ariel suggested. We both burst out laughing.

"Sadly, not a good idea," I told her ignoring the confused elves. Having both now contributed to the council we looked at the older wiser elves in the room; well they didn't honestly expect us to come up with ideas did they?

"You could tell people that you were sent here by Eru, it would stop their questioning" said Legolas.

"NO!" we both exclaimed at the same time.

"I think it is a very good suggestion," said Elrond looking totally puzzled at our outburst.

"Look, however we got to Middle-earth it wasn't by some almighty power of the gods who thought that we were the only ones who could save the said Middle-earth from ruin and catastrophe and the return of Melkor etc ok?" I said, there could be nothing (I believed anyway) worse than being 'the chosen ones'.

"Why not?" asked the Prince of Mirkwood surprised.

"Just no, Legolas, trust me, no" Ariel assured him putting a hand on his arm. _I sense some chemistry here…_

"What else do you suggest then?" Elrond asked us. Oh dear, we were supposed to think now. The pieces of fluff in both our brains worked over time to think of a solution, but of course, pieces of fluff aren't very good when it comes to thinking hard. We remained silent. I was just thinking that there was still someone in the room who hadn't said anything yet when he spoke.

"Why say they came from anywhere different to Middle-earth?" Glorfindel said. Did I say he has the most wonderful voice I have ever heard in my entire life? Well he does. "They came from a village nearby that was ruined by orcs and we are giving them shelter."

There was silence as everyone kicked themselves. It was such a simple solution no one had suggested it, so simple it was bond to work.

"Well, I think there we have our answer. Your can change into more appropriate clothes now and tell anyone who has seen you before that you were in… the traditional mourning clothes of your people-"

Someone entered the room, it was an elf I think I had seen at dinner sometime but I did not know the name of.

"Lord Elrond?" said the elf; "may I speak to you?"

"Of course," replied Elrond, "If you will excuse me I matters to attend to, I wish you the best of luck." He followed to elf out of the door.

"I shall see if I can find some dresses and things for you both," said Glorfindel and went out leaving the three of us in the room.

"Caeli," said Legolas, "would you be an angel…"

"and get your shirt?" I finished for him.

"Thank you!" he said. I laughed and left the room.

Again I had to walk all the way up the stupid hill to his room but I found it easily.

Hanging on one of the chairs was the shirt I gave Merenon to give to Legolas, he must have misunderstood me. _Oh well, I'm sure Ariel will thank Merenon when she sees him next _I thought.

I left his room and closed the door behind me. I looked along the path and I was tempted to go and sit by the fountain in Glorfindel's room again. I knew he wouldn't mind but Legolas needed his shirt so I decided against it. I walked back to the healing house.

I opened the door to the room where Ariel was. As soon as I walked in with the shirt I could have sworn Ariel looked disappointed. Legolas however was the complete opposite; he ran up to me and hugged me. This came as a total surprise to me and I almost fell over.

"Thank you so much!" he said (he must have really missed it) and then after releasing me he took his shirt (well tunic, why do I keep saying shirt, it was a tunic!) and put it on.

"Merenon had put your shirt in your room after I left it with him," I explained to Legolas.

"Why do I get the feeling there is a conspiracy against me?" he said jokingly and we laughed.

At that point Glorfindel entered holding two dresses, one green one brown.

"I thought they would match your eye colours," he said giving the green one to Ariel and the brown one to me. Well brown was the wrong word it was a sort of chestnut that reflected the sun with lots of gold embroidery. Lots, your could almost say the dress was gold not brown. I felt the material, the bottom part of it was soft and light but the top part was strangely not so flowy and…

"Oh no, Ariel," I said.

"Corsets." she said.

"I take it you've never worn one?" Glorfindel said.

"No." we both said at the same time.

"Well then Caeli, you'll be the first," he said.

"What about me?" asked Ariel indignantly.

"You are not getting out of your bed just yet Ariel," said Legolas. She scowled it response. I laughed and went over to the screen. I had learnt by now that elves did not

bugger out of rooms when you wanted them to and so screen was a very useful invention.

I took my top off and put on the corset. Or tried to. _No its not that way round, you turn it round so the string it at the back, then how do you tie it!_

"How does it look?" asked Glorfindel. _Does he really think I'd be ready this quickly? Men, honestly!_

"I think I need some help here," I called back, "from Ariel," I added just to be sure.

"But Ariel can't-" Legolas started to protest.

"I'm just walking a few steps," she said and I heard her get out of bed. "Unless you would like to help Caeli with her corset?" she asked in a coy voice while I tried not to laugh.

"I didn't mean-," he said

"Good," I couldn't help calling. I heard Ariel laughing.

Ariel came behind the screen and examined the back of my corset.

"Right," she said, "So what do I do?"

"God knows, I think you pull the ribbony things and tie a knot." I suggested. She did just that.

"Ariel," I said in a whisper, "I think perhaps that's not what you're supposed to do I can't breathe properly, at all in fact!"

"Then she's doing it right," said Glorfindel.

"Thought so," said Ariel confidently and proceeded to do the same with every pair of ribbons in the corset, and I could have sworn I heard my bones cracking.

"You're done!" she said patting me encouragingly on the back and going back to join to others leaving me to put on the dress.

I bent down to pick it up and saw black dots in my vision as I stood up again. _This is not good. _I pulled the dress over my head and took off my jeans. I looked in the mirror in front of me. The sleeves were ¾ lengths and the skirt came almost down to the floor. It was v-necked. The corset made me look twigish in my opinion but oh well. I examined the embroidery closer, it was done with a beautiful golden thread and covered the whole dress. It wasn't a huge ballroomy type dress and the skirt part didn't frill out with a hundred layers it was simply designed with no frills (thank god) but looked lovely all the same. I decided to let my hair out for the best effect. I combed it through with my fingers and it fell around my shoulders.

Ok, to tell you the truth I did not look like Arwen or any other beautiful elf you saw in the films and as I said the corset didn't complement me, but if you just looked at the dress it was stunning. I took as deep a breath as I could into the now confined space in my lungs and shuffled out.

Ariel was sitting on her bed and Legolas and Glorfindel were beside it.

"Wow!" said Ariel. Legolas Smiled at me.

"You look lovely!" said Glorfindel and hugged me. I was about to say thank you and as I tried to draw breath my brain realised I couldn't because of the corset and Glorfindel hugging me having the effect of reducing the volume of lungs to more or less nothing and the little piece of fluff in my brain panicked and gave up. Translation: I fainted.

I woke up in a chair. Glorfindel was looking at me worriedly.

"Are you ok?" he asked. "I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-"

"Yes I'm ok don't worry" I said in a small voice trying to use as little air as possible, "thank you, but I won't be needing the corset anymore, I think I'll go back to using a bra." Ariel laughed looking relieved.

"I'm glad you've come to your senses!" she said helping me get up. I went back behind the screen to administer a wardrobe change."

"Bra?" Legolas asked.

"I think it is probably better that we don't inquire," said Glorfindel.

"Yes it is." I said pulling my dress back over my head.

I came back out feeling better. I held the corset out "What shall I do with this?" I asked. The elves blushed. Typical.

"Put it in the drawer," said Glorfindel indicating a chest of drawers in the room. I did as I was told then slumped into a chair.

"For people to believe you come from Middle-earth you are going to need to act in a more lady-like way." Glorfindel told me despairingly.

"Fine," I said getting up again crossly. This time I fell gently back into the chair in an over-exaggerated semblance of grace. Everyone in the room rolled their eyes.

----

We hope you had a great new year! And enjoy 2006! And everyone gets Wensleydale cheese for reviewing this time! (Ok, so I've been watching too much Wallace andGromit. So?) Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter :-D


	13. Chapter 13

Tin: Ala, our little ficcy is a teenager now/sniff/

Ala/sniff/ they grow up so fast…

Ariel: I like chocolate!

Caeli: Um, yes, this is a disclaimer Ariel.

Ariel: And I like cheese!

Elrond/grabs Ariel and throws her into the cage/

Ariel: LET ME OUT!

Elrond/gags her/

Gandalf: While Ariel is temporarily silenced, I believe that we should get this disclaimer over with as quickly as possible before she gets free!

Fell beast: ROAR!

Ala: What was that for, fell beasty?

Tin: Because I asked it to take me for a ride.

Witch-King: MY FELL BEASTY/waves pointy Morgul-blade at Tin/

Tin: Jeez… possessive…

Caeli: Are you guys trying to force me to do the disclaimer or something?

Gandalf: YES!

Caeli: Fine then. Tolkien owns everything except me, Ariel, and Tin's pot plant. Tin owns her pot plant and Ariel, and Ala owns me. The end.

**Chapter 13 (wow! Our little ficcy is growing up!)**

**Ariel POV**

Yesterday, Glorfindel had procured some corsets and dresses for me and Caeli. Although Caeli had fainted in the course of duty – ok, she fainted because corsets do not let you move, talk, or breathe much – I still wanted to try one on. So when I woke up in the morning, I asked Legolas to help me get up.

"Why do you want to get up? You should stay in bed, Ariel." He didn't sound particularly happy with the idea of me getting out of bed. God forbid I should get some exercise.

"Well, I want to try on the dress. And please can we go for a walk? I'm getting hyper from lying around too much, and Caeli can tell you that me getting hyper is never good. Well, she could tell you if she was here, which she isn't."

"Ariel, are you sure you can do this?"

_Duh, I'm suggesting a short walk to use up some of my hyperness. Not a fifty-mile hike._

"Yeah, I just want to go outside for a while. The ceiling gets to be a really boring view after a while. So help me up? Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Legolas gave in and helped me out of bed once I'd finished combing my hair. Well, when I say he helped me out of bed, he practically lifted me.

Once I'd stood up and got my dress and corset out of the drawer, I went behind the screen and tried to put it on. Unfortunately, I discovered that putting on a corset by myself just wasn't possible. Much swearing, blaspheming, and cursing the corset to being used as a dwarf's nose-hair ring went on, until Legolas politely required what was the matter.

"I can't tie these STUPID bloody strings up! What do you elves think I am, an acrobat? Well here's some news for you: I am NOT an acrobat! And I'm not double jointed either!" I knew I was being unfairly grumpy to him, but I was very, very, very angry at the strings. And he was the nearest thing to take it out on.

In my frustration I kicked the screen, which, unfortunately, was a LOT less stable than it looked. Needless to say, it fell over, and I was left standing in front of Legolas with my dress undone. I grabbed and held the front of my dress up so that at least I wasn't topless, but I wasn't completely sure exactly how much he had seen.

"SHIT!" I exclaimed,

_Well, at least I'm still wearing my pyjama shorts. But you know, I hadn't actually planned on him seeing me changing._

"Um, seeing as you're here, would you please do me a favour and tie this thing up?" I was so embarrassed that I figured that a little more embarrassment wouldn't hurt. And at least Legolas was being a gentleman (gentleelf?) by not looking at me. I turned around and he tied me up in the thing surprisingly quickly.

"That was fast," I commented. He shrugged, obviously embarrassed at having to dress me. The feeling was mutual. He then picked the screen up off the floor and stood it up, so that I could put the dress on over the corset. When I was finished, I emerged from behind the screen. I would have done a little twirl and shown off but I figured that doing so would probably use up more oxygen than I could get into my lungs.

"Didn't you want to go for a walk?" he asked, offering me his arm to hold onto.

"Yeah, but first I want to find a mirror. Where's the nearest one?" There was no way that I was going anywhere without checking that I didn't look like a cave troll.

"Over here." Legolas led me to a mirror. I stopped in front of it and stared. I wasn't looking at the 15 year old girl with the long nose and the moplike mess of reddish brown curls any more. Somehow, the dress drew attention away from my nose, and the green colour matched my eyes. And I don't know how, but my hair wasn't a mess. And even better, I didn't look either fat or skinny.

_This has to be the first time in history that I've ever actually liked my figure! Yayness!_

"I love this dress! It makes me look unfat!" I exclaimed, hugging Legolas who grinned at my happiness over a piece of clothing.

"Well, I know what to get you for your birthday then," he said, grinning.

"Yup. So lets go on that walk. And you still need to help me decide what my party is going to be like, because my birthday is in two weeks and I haven't planned the party yet." We started plotting – oops planning – my party as we slowly proceeded down to a beautiful garden. Once we got there, Legolas insisted that I sat down. I was all too happy to agree, because although I didn't want to admit, my stomach wasn't appreciating the movement of walking.

"Why was Erestor staring at me?" I asked. We had passed Erestor on our way down the corridor, and he had stood there and stared at me.

"Maybe because he has never seen you in a dress before and you look lovely in it. And may I ask why both you and Caeli are so against the possibility that you may have been sent here by Eru to help Middle-earth in these dangerous times?" Legolas asked.

_Wow, did he just say I look lovely in a dress? That's so sweet! Not true, but still nice!_

"Because we both refuse to become Mary-Sues. And thanks, but I really don't look that special. Especially compared to a bunch of perfect elves."

"What is a Mary-Sue?" he inquired.

"It's an irritatingly perfect teenage girl who falls into Middle-earth from my world. They are always clever and speak fluent Elvish after a single month of lessons, they steal people's lines, they always look beautiful and they generally turn out to either be the long-lost daughter of either Elrond or Galadriel, although sometimes they are long-lost siblings of Aragorn. Either way, they nearly always have tortured pasts and end up being made happy by all the people here. They are loved by everyone around them. And also, without fail, they fall madly in love with you and you end up marrying the Mary-Sue." Legolas looked horrified at the prospect of marrying some hideously perfect Mary-Sue.

"This Mary-Sue creation you speak of, do they exist? Because if they do, I think I will go and shoot myself with my own bow." I laughed at his horror.

"No, don't worry. They're just fictional characters. Don't be scared of teenage girls' bad-grammared creation. And now do you see why neither of us want to become them?"

"I can understand why you don't want to be a Mary-Sue. But why would be being sent here by Eru make you one? Because you don't fulfil most of the requirements, it seems to me."

"Hey, are you calling me ugly and stupid?" I asked, pretended to be offended.

"No, of course not! I said MOST of the requirements!" he said.

"I was joking. Sort of. But anyway, if we were sent here by Eru to save Middle-earth, we would become Mary-Sues because Mary-Sues always have a 'purpose' in Middle-earth. There's normally a prophecy about them about how they'll come to Middle-earth and single-handedly battle Sauron, and how they'll have special powers and that sort of crap. So if we were sent here for a reason by Eru or the Valar, we'd be Mary-Sues." I tried to clarify my explanation of why being here for a 'Reason' would make us Mary-Sues.

"Well, I can understand you not wanting to be one. Although I'm deeply broken-hearted that you don't want to become one just so that you can marry me. Don't you want to marry me?" he joked, clutching his heart.

"Hmph. No way in hell would I become a Mary-Sue just to marry you. No offence or anything." Legolas shrugged, grinning.

"How about if I grow that extra eyelash? Would you marry me then?" I laughed, and then stared at the hedge. I had just seen a blue-eyed female elf duck behind the hedge, an expression of shock on her face. I nudged Legolas.

"Did you see her face? I think she thought you just proposed to me! I guess she's one of your little fan club," I whispered, and an evil grin spread across his face. He got off the bench and knelt on one knee in front of me, and winked. Then he spouted a ridiculously fancy and fake proposal to me, which verged on begging. I looked at the hedge and noticed that the elf was watching intently. I shrugged.

"Maybe… I'll have to think about it…" Legolas got up off the floor and I leant against him, collapsing in silent giggles. I wasn't prepared for the sob that I heard from behind the hedge and the sound of an elf rushing off in tears. I stared at Legolas guiltily.

"Oops… I think she thought that you were saying that for real… I feel bad now."

_Great, now some random elf is crying her eyes out because she thinks that the Prince that she obviously has a massive crush on has just proposed to a human girl who he only met a week ago._

"Don't, it was my idea. But at least I might have a few less elves following me everywhere, if that one announces to her friends that I am betrothed to you." I giggled at the thought of a whole group of elves thinking that I was engaged to Legolas.

"Well, yeah, but they'll find out its not true as soon as they see us and notice that we don't look remotedly in love," I pointed out.

"True… or we could just pretend that we are if a group of them is anywhere near," he suggested. I laughed, delighted at the idea of irritating a load of fangirls by pretending they'd missed out. I agreed that this could be fun, and then my stomach pointed out for me that I was hungry.

"We'd better go back, Elrond would have a fit if he came and saw I was missing. Plus as you just heard, I'm hungry." Legolas helped me up, and we slowly made our way back to the room, boringly not passing any fangirl elves.

When we got back to the hospital room, we were greeted by five open-mouthed people. Caeli, Glorfindel, Elrond, Elladan, and Elrohir were standing by my bed and gaping at us.

"What are you looking at us like that for?" I asked, when the five of them just stood there and stared at us.

"Er, congratulations, you two," said Elrond, still open-mouthed with raised eyebrows.

"What for?" I asked curiously.

"Duh, getting engaged, idiot," said Caeli. The proverbial penny dropped.

"Where did you get that idea from?" Legolas asked, the lightbulb obviously not having turned on yet.

"Elenloth came to us and said that you proposed to Ariel in the garden just now. She seemed quite unhappy about it. In fact she was crying. And Caeli saw you propose from the window," said Glorfindel.

"He didn't! Honestly you lot, I've only been here for a week! As Treebeard would say, don't be hasty!" I said. Caeli gave me a disbelieving look.

"So he didn't propose, he just decided to kneel down in front of you and make a lovely little proposal speech then you hugged him. Riiight. You can tell me you know, I'm not going to shout at you."

"For the last time, I am not betrothed to Ariel!" Legolas exclaimed.

"What, you said no?" Caeli said to me.

"OK, guys, I am going to talk and none of you is going to say anything until I say you can. I'll start from the beginning. We went for a walk, we sat down on a bench. I described the fact that Mary-Sues always marry Legolas and that neither me or Caeli wanted to be a Mary-Sue. Legolas pretended to be broken-hearted that I didn't want to marry him. We saw some female elf lurking behind the hedge and so Legolas pretended to propose to me so that she would go and tell her friends and so he could have a couple of days without all those girls following him around. She started crying and ran off. Then we came back up here. Therefore we are NOT engaged and Legolas did NOT propose to me for real." I said, hoping that this would get the point across. It did. Everyone instantly relaxed.

"That's OK then," said Caeli.

"Hey, you're supposed to be happy for your friend when you think she's engaged!" I said.

"Yeah, but not when the friend has only known the fiancé for a week!" I had to admit she was right.

"Guys, you're sitting on my bed and I'm tired," I said to the twins. My stomach was hurting a bit and I wanted to lie down. Thankfully, Elladan and Elrohir jumped up quickly and said that they would go and set Elenloth straight about Legolas' marital status.

"No, don't, please. Ariel and I decided that it would be fun to pretend to be betrothed for a couple of days." Legolas looked fairly unhappy at the thought of being beset by fangirls sooner than he had hoped for.

"Er, why?" inquired Elrond.

"Because I figured that if we pretended to be together, then Legolas wouldn't have the usual horde of gold diggers following him around," I explained. Glorfindel rolled his eyes and left, saying that he had listened to enough idiocy for today.

"Gold diggers? I have not seen any dwarves present in Rivendell for quite a while," said Elrond.

"I mean the group of girls, I mean female elves, who follow him around in the hope that he will marry one of them and they will get to become Princess of Mirkwood." A look of comprehension appeared on all the elves' faces. Obviously they had only just realised why we had done the whole fake proposal thing.

"Yes, we will keep your little secret. And now I am going to go to lunch. I will bring some food up for you, Ariel, and anyone else if they are staying here." Caeli said that she would keep me company, and told Legolas that he should go down to lunch and that he had missed enough fun at meals already. He refused and pointed out that it would look a bit odd if he left me on my own only an hour after we became betrothed. Caeli shrugged and smirked.

"Fine, but you might want to fetch some earplugs, because you are about to be subjected to Girl Talk." Legolas looked confused.

"What, may I ask, is girl talk?" he asked her.

"Its when girls talk about girly things," she explained.

"Caeli, that didn't help much," I said to her.

"OK, if you want me to spell it out, we are about to discuss things such as hair products and face wash. Well, we would normally if we were talking girl talk, but right now I'm about to demand all details about your proposal and also if she enjoyed you not having a shirt for the last day or two," she said. Legolas rolled his eyes at the prospect of having to listen to that sort of crap.

"Oh yeah, and I'm also going to describe to her how you saw me topless this morning," I added. That comment had the intended reaction: Legolas turned bright red and tried to will the ground to swallow him up, while Caeli choked and stared from me to him.

"Whaaat? Ariel, explanation wanted. Now!" she demanded. I grinned.

_Heeheehee! Isn't it fun making Caeli think I've done certain things which, in fact, I haven't! And Legolas should blush more often, it's very endearing seeing him so embarrassed. In fact, I guess his reaction answers the question that I was thinking about earlier: did he actually see me topless or not? I guess from the reaction he had when I said that that the answer is yes. NOOOOOOOO!_

**Caeli's POV**

"Legolas, out!" I demanded. He left very, very quickly.

"Ariel!"

"Well it was like this…" she said and continued to describe to me exactly how Legolas saw her topless.

"But the thing is," she ended "I don't actually no if he actually saw me topless." I blinked a few times unbelievingly.

"Anyway, onto other subjects," said Ariel quickly. I raised an eyebrow. "Legolas, you can back in now" she called in the direction of the door and in came Legolas still a little pink.

There was an awkward silence. "Umm, look, I'll go see how Elrond is getting on with the lunches..." I said feeling that actually it would probably be better for Legolas' sanity if I left to save us talking about toplessness. Ok, ok, I'll admit it there was the fact that I wanted to go tell the whole of Rivendell the gossip (I mean how many good rumours can a place like Rivendell get? Not many is my guess). I scuttled out of the room.

I walked between the trees until I heard the sound of water. _It must be that tributary of the Bruinen that Merenon was telling me about at dinner the other day. _Sure enough, there was a little (well not that little actually) river with rocky banks. The river flowed at stately pace, as would befit an elven river and looked deep.

"Caeli!" came a voice from above me. I looked up; sitting on branch of a tree above the water was Glorfindel.

"Hey Glorfindel!" I called up and attempted to climb up the tree.

"Don't you even think about laughing!" I warned him as I cautiously climbed up branch by branch.

"Of course not," he said "You just be careful,"

"I will," I replied. Eventually I had pulled myself up to the branch he was sitting on and I gingerly shimmied over to where he was sitting above the river. As soon as I was within reach he held my arm to help me along the last bit.

"Lovely view from here," I commented, forcing myself to look at the said lovely view and not down.

"Yes," agreed Glorfindel still holding onto me, I felt kinda like a three year old like this but hey, it was better than the alternative which was falling off.

"Oh, do you want to know something really funny?" I asked remembering my Ariel story and grinning.

"What?" he asked suspiciously.

"Legolas saw Ariel topless!" I said coming straight to the point.

"WHAT!" Glorfindel exclaimed with a look of horror on his face. Well, at least I think it was a look of horror because you see at that moment he turned to face me and turned too quickly. He lost his balance and fell of the branch taking me with him.

I hit the water in a matter of seconds a fell beneath it. I felt my arm; Glorfindel's arm wasn't on it anymore. _Open your eyes! _I thought desperately, but the problem is I can never open my eyes under water, I just can't bring myself to do it. Yes, stupid I know, and I knew it then.

My arm hit a rock underwater and I instinctively opened my moth to cry out but I just got a mouthful of water. I struggled and kicked to try and get to the surface but I just kept on hitting rocks. Just as I was running out of air I felt strong arms around me dragging me upwards quickly. Seconds later my head broke the surface and I took in a huge gulp of air and spluttered.

"Caeli, are you ok!" Glorfindel asked panicking. We were both in the middle of the River and soaking wet. Glorfindel was holding me and my dress was trying to hold me down.

"I…I'm-" I spluttered again.

"Lets get you onto the bank, everything is going to be ok alright?" I tried to nod as I coughed out the water. He dragged me ashore.

I sat huddled shaking on the shore. Freezing cold and soaking wet. Glorfindel hugged me tightly to warm me up.

"I was so worried… thank Elbereth… I thought…" he lightly kissed the top of my head and brushed my dripping hair out of my face. For a moment I could have sworn he was glowing slightly. I don't mean that greenish glow you get from glow in the dark stickers, it was more of a white light that came from all around him.

"Are you ok?" he asked me again.

"I'm fine… I'm ok" I said between deep breaths. "At least…" I took a few more deep breaths, "as long as you carry on hugging me I will be," I whispered and gave him a little smile. He laughed and hugged me again. The glowing stopped.

"Are you ok?" I asked him; after all he was just as wet as me.

"Never better!" stupid elves!

"We better get you to the house of healing," he said.

"No, no its, its ok" I said quickly, "I'm just cold that's all, the house of healing can't do anything for me."

"In that case we'll go to my room I've got a fire burning there already," I nodded.

By the time we had reached Glorfindel's room I had retold to him what I had christened 'Ariel's little wardrobe malfunction'. Glorfindel thought it was absolutely hilarious and we were both laughing (and for me coughing) as well entered his room.

As promised the room was warm and cosy due to a fire burning in the middle of it.

"This is nice," I said then I noticed something about him "hey, how comes you're already almost completely dry and I'm soaking?" I demanded. He laughed as surveyed me and noticed that I was indeed soaking wet.

"My body heat dries me, elves body heat raises a lot when they are cold or wet," I scowled, but then burst out laughing.

"It's so unbelievably unfair!"

"I'm afraid so," he said. He put a hand on my forehead. "You're as cold as ice!" _well noticed _"you'd better change out of your wet clothes before you get ill," he bustled me into a bathroom type place and handed me a white fluffy towel from a drawer. "You can wear this for now," he said and left closing the door behind him to let me change.

I thankfully pulled off my wet dress tied the towel around me (and yes I did keep my underwear on). Now, for any of you with fears for my modesty let me put your minds at rest, the towel reached down to the floor and actually a bit further so much so that I had to avoid tripping over it as I went back out. So you can all get rid of the image of me in a towel that barley reached my hips ok?

"How do you feel?" he asked me as I emerged from the bathroom.

"Better," I said "Thank you,"

"You are very welcome," he said taking my wet dress and hanging it up near the fire.

I sat down on the rug by the fire to warm up. I heard footsteps walking near the door.

"That's Canadiel, she might have another dress for you," said Glorfindel and hurried to the door.

"Canadiel?" he called.

"Glorfindel!" she called back and I heard her walking back towards the door.

"Do you think you could find me a dress?" he asked her. She peered past him into his room and her eyes landed on me huddled up in a towel by the fire. She looked at Glorfindel puzzled.

"A dress please," he repeated.

"Of course, I'll be right back," she replied at last and left. Glorfindel closed the door behind him and came to sit on a stool beside me.

"Is she your girlfriend?" I asked him, I knew he did not have a wife, but come to think of it Tolkien had never written anything on the subject of Glorfindel's love interests. Glorfindel laughed.

"Canadiel? No!" he said still laughing.

"Do you have you have a girlfriend?"

"No,"

"Have you ever-"

"No!" he laughed. "You're curious today aren't you?"

"I'm always curious!" I said, "I'm sorry thought I didn't mean to… it was none of my business really,"

"That's ok, being curious is a good thing," he said smiling at me.

"Then can I ask you something else?" I asked.

"Go ahead,"

"Surely you must have had a crush on someone in all these thousands of years you've lived among the most beautiful race on the earth?"

"A 'crush' as you call it, maybe, yes, but I've never found the right person to be in any sort of a relationship with," he answered.

"I suppose it would take elves along time to decide who they want to be with seeing as they live so long."

"Well, yes and no, I have known some elves that have spent thousands of years deciding about one person, yet I know others who have met and decided they were right for each other within a week."

"Wow! Both tactics works then?" I asked

"Elven marriages very rarely fail." Someone knocked on the door. Glorfindel went to answer it.

"Thank you Canadiel," Glorfindel said accepting a simple white dress from her. Then Canadiel said something in elvish that I didn't understand while gesturing at me.

"That shouldn't concern you," answered Glorfindel in English for my benefit _thank you Glorfindel! _Canadiel laughed a little, said something else in elvish and then smiled and left.

"There you are!" he said offering me the dress.

"Thank you," I said taking it from him and going into his bathroom again to change.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked him as I changed.

"What she said?" came the reply _why does he have to know everything?_

"If you don't wish to tell me that's fine it was just that she was pointing at me and-"

"That's ok," he said "she asked the same question about you that you asked me about her,"

"You told me though,"

"You were curious, she made assumptions because you were sitting in my room in a towel, there's a difference," he said. I came out of the bathroom in my new dress.

"Well no one needs to make assumptions anymore," I said happily doing a little twirl in it.

"Again you look lovely," he complemented me. "You should come back and sit by the fire to dry your hair though," I did as he suggested.

"We used to have a fire like this at home," I said eventually.

"My parents love to sit by fires, I think I take after them," he said smiling at me.

"Are your parents here in Rivendell?" I asked.

"No, they stayed in Valinor when I left,"

"Do you miss them?"

"Not really," Glorfindel sighed, "Not because I don't love them, but I also love being in Middle-earth and I've been away from them for so long." I smiled.

"It must be nice to know your parents are waiting for you in Valinor," I said.

"Do you miss your parents?" he asked. I stared into the fire and then rested my head in my hands.

"Yes I do," I answered finally.

"I'm sorry," he said putting a comforting hand on mine.

"Don't be," I said taking his hand, "it's not your fault." We sat together in a friendly silence for a while.

There was a tapping noise at the door. Glorfindel got up and answered. It was Legolas.

"Hi Legolas," I called still sitting by the fire. "Have you remembered to invite me to your wedding to Ariel?" I asked jokingly.

"That depends on whether you told Glorfindel about the issue with Ariel's corset,"

"I haven't heard about anything about Ariel's corset," Glorfindel lied. Legolas looked at me suspiciously.

"Surely you didn't come to tell Caeli that she mustn't tell me about the whole topless thing?" Glorfindel asked.

"Caeli!" Legolas exclaimed. I grinned evilly.

"Well what did you come here to say?" I asked.

"I came here at Lord Elrond's bidding, he would like a word with you,"

"Oh, ok just coming," I said and grabbed my dress which was still kinda wet, straightened out my hair, which was dryish and hugged and thanked Glorfindel who reminded me that I may come again at any time should I wish. Finally I followed Legolas towards Elrond's office.

"Please don't tell Elrond about the topless thing," Legolas pleaded with me along the way.

"Oh really? Why not?" I said grinning with evil thoughts. Legolas stopped me and turned me to face him.

"Because I'll do anything you want if you promise not to," he said seriously. I laughed and carried on walking.

"Wow, I have an elven prince in my power, what shall I do?" I said enjoying every moment. Legolas remained silent.

"What about going round Rivendell shirtless for a week?" I suggested. Legolas looked horrified. "Ok, maybe I'm not quite that mean." I conceded.

"Propose to that elf over there," I said pointing at a random she elf.

"Please no," he begged.

"Ok, maybe not that either," I considered for a while. Suddenly I came up with the most brilliant and evil condition. "Ok, I've got it, you have to address me as 'Caeli the most beautiful talented and clever lady that you have ever had the pleasure of meeting'" paused to look at Legolas' horrified expression before added "for the rest of your life."

"No way," he said.

"Ok then, how do you think I should put it to the Lord Elrond?" I asked as we rounded to corner to Elrond's study "Legolas was in the room as Ariel was changing and-"

"Ok, ok, I give in Caeli the most beautiful talented…" he paused thinking,

"and clever" I reminded him

"Most beautiful talented and clever lady that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting," he finished.

"awww, that's really sweet!" I said and hugged him. "I promise not to tell Elrond." and with that I went in.

Elrond was examining his bookcase when I stepped into the room. _I hope I'm not in trouble, I don't think I've done anything wrong…_

"Caeli, please don't look so worried!" said Elrond cheerfully. "I was just wondering if you had any idea as to what Ariel might want for her birthday," I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Socks," I said automatically. His raised the famous eyebrow. "She likes socks," I said nodding.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, very," I assured him. "Unless you want to get her a fell beast but I have a feeling Legolas is getting her one… then again she wouldn't object to two…" The elven Lord looked at me as if I had taken leave of my senses and looked about to question me further on the matter when her saw the wet dress in my hand.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Long story,"

"Go ahead," he said sitting down in his chair.

"Well Glorfindel and I were sitting on a branch above the river and I surprised him and we kinda fell in to the water."

"Gracious child! Are you ok?" he asked looking thoroughly alarmed.

"Fine thank you, Glorfindel helped me out,"

"Good," said Elrond looking relieved. Thinking back to the river episode made me remember something.

"Could I ask you something about Glorfindel?" I asked.

"If it is within my power to answer I will," replied Elrond.

"When he pulled me out of the River I'm sure he was glowing, sort of radiating light I dunno how to describe it," Elrond looked at me for while then said.

"He must have been very worried indeed for your safety," he paused to collect his thoughts "some elves that have come from the lands across the sea are sometimes seen in the form they appear in the distant lands, that is as you say, glowing with a white light. Galadriel and Celeborn also radiate this light but I would say more frequently than Glorfindel. It usually happens either when he is feeling a very strong emotion or concentrating. He has no control over it."

Then I remembered the part of the book where Glorfindel rescues Frodo on Asfaloth, when he first comes into view he was glowing. If Elrond noticed this sudden look of realisation on my face he said nothing of it.

"As I said, he must have been very worried about you," Elrond said. I nodded. There was silence in the room for a while then Elrond broke it.

"So socks," he said cheerfully again.

"Yes," I smiled nodding. "I'm glad I could help,"

"So am I," replied Elrond.

Thus I left the study of Lord Elrond of Rivendell, deep in contemplation, on a summer day.

--------

Hi! We love you all, you're wonderful reviewers! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and everyone who reviews gets a slice of cake!


	14. Chapter 14

Ala: Hmph. Elrond is absolutely REFUSING to take ANY part in this disclaimer.

Elrond's eyebrows: But we will!

Tin/gulp/ where did those come from?

Ala/rolls eyes/ Elrond's forehead. /dodges slap from Tin/

Fell beast: Get back in the cage, the lot of you! ROAR!

Tin: I'm not sharing my cage with a pair of eyebrows!

Elrond's eyebrows: but… but… I don't have nits or anything…

Ala: I should hope not!

Fell beast: ROAR/Ala, Tin, and Elrond's eyebrows get into cage/

Tin: YOU CAN'T KEEP US HERE! YOU CAN'T L… /Ala gags Tin in order to shut her up/ mmp mmbphm…

Nazgul Number 3: In order to end this sham of a disclaimer, I shall now proceed to actually DO IT!

Ala: Oooooh er…… /giggles/

Nazgul Number 3/death glare at Ala/

Ala: You don't have eyes. Stop trying to glare at me.

Nazgul: Well, the /sob/ disclaimer/hic/ Ala /sob/ and Tin /sniffle/ don't own anything /hic/ except Ariel and Caeli /sniffle/ and Tin /sob/ owns her pot plant /bursts into sobs and runs away to nurse its pride/

**Chapter 14**

**Ariel POV**

I spent another week in the House of Healing, getting well acquainted with the exact pattern on the ceiling. I had quite a lot of visitors over the week; Caeli visited me three times a day, Elladan and Elrohir dropped in most days, and everyone else visited me a couple of times. Legolas had spent most of the first few days sitting with me, trying to stop me slitting my wrists out of boredom, but four days before my birthday he told me that he wouldn't be able to be there as much because he had 'plans to prepare'.

"Oooh, anything good? Or something bad like going out chasing Orcs?" I asked, not wanting to press him too much in case he didn't want to tell me about his plans. We had become pretty good friends over the last little while. We'd had quite a lot of time to talk, after all, seeing as I wasn't exactly able to have archery lessons while sitting in bed.

Actually, that could be a very funny variation of Pin the Tail on the Donkey… 

"Something good. You'll find out in a few days," he said, and smiled. I sighed, having always hated having secrets kept from me.

"Ok ok, but don't completely abandon me, I think I'd go mad if you didn't come at all." He smiled again and reassured me that he would still visit me.

To my surprise, he then bent over and gave me a hug. The surprise wasn't from the hug, which happened quite often, but from the fact that he'd initiated it. Not that he had anything against hugs, in fact I knew perfectly well that he liked them, but I think that he wasn't very used to going round hugging people. Or, of course, he was just a typical male, unable to show any affection. I didn't think that was the case, though. I think he just wasn't used to starting off hugs.

Anyway, I hugged him back, and then he left, saying that he'd visit me in the evening. I heard him say something to someone outside the door, who then knocked.

"Come in," I called, surprised that I had a visitor who actually knocked. My surprise turned into shock when I saw who my visitor was.

"Hi, Erestor," I said, after picking my jaw up from the floor and dusting it off.

"Hello, Ariel. I heard you were unwell and wanted to see if your health is improving," he said.

_Wow, Caeli will be surprised, no, not surprised, she'll probably faint, when she hears about this!_

"Um, thanks," I said, smiling at him.

He may have been a bastard, but when he's being nice why treat him as if he's not? 

"So, how are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm much better thanks. I'm mainly bored, actually. So if you had asked me that in a few days time, I'd probably be very ill after slitting my wrists," I said.

"Well, I am glad that you are feeling better. Caeli will be coming shortly, in order to assuage your boredom, and I believe that she will be bringing some new guests with her." At the word 'guests' Erestor's face contorted into a strange expression which seemed to contain fascination and disgust at the same time.

Ah, I believe I know what guests these are. 

"Would these guests happen to be dwarves?" I asked curiously. Erestor nodded. I gasped and decided that no way was I meeting anyone I didn't know while wearing my pyjamas.

"Erestor, please could you help me up? I need to get dressed," I asked the elf. He nodded and helped me up. I wobbled when I stood up, and teetered over to the drawers to extract some clothes. I found a tank top and some shorts and began wobbling over to the screen, when Erestor stopped me.

"Would it not be more appropriate to wear your dress?" he asked.

"Yes it would. But I can't do it up by myself and so unless you want to tie my clothes up, I can't wear it." I rolled my eyes at the slightly embarrassed look of comprehension on Erestor's face.

Luckily, we were both saved from him having to do my corset up by Caeli bursting into the room. She soon stopped, however, and glared at Erestor.

"What's he doing here?" she asked, scowling.

"He came to visit me because he heard I'm ill, duh. And guys, can you PLEASE just stop fighting? Erestor, Caeli is not evil in any way, shape or form, except for when she's teasing my about my nose. Caeli, Erestor is not the elven embodiment of Hitler. Kiss and make up?" I pleaded, then grinned at the expressions on their faces.

"Kiss and make up? And who is Hitler?" inquired Erestor, looking revolted.

"Fine, just shake hands and stop arguing! And Hitler was an evil git who wanted to rule the world. End of discussion, end of fight, end of feud. Get it?" I said, glaring at both of them. They both sighed, and shook hands.

"Well, Ariel, I must be on my way, and I hope that you feel well again soon," Erestor said. I smiled at him and once he had left, made Caeli help me into the dress.

"So, Wind, why…" I cut her off.

"Why the name Wind? My name is Ariel," I said.

"Duh, Ariel, Air, Wind. Your nickname is now Wind." I scowled at her.

"Fine, your new nickname is Flatulence," I smirked, and was rewarded with a Death Glare of Doom. Not as good as mine, of course, but still a good glare.

"Fine, no nicknames. AS I was saying, why do you want to get dressed? It's not like you're going anywhere," she asked.

"Because Erestor just informed me that you were bringing a load of dwarves to see me," I said. Her face fell.

"It was supposed to be a surprise!" she said, looking downcast.

"Have I heard of any of them?" I asked, wondering if the group of dwarves included Gimli or Gloin.

"Yup, two of them. Oh here they are," she said, when a knock was heard on the door. I sat down on the bed as she opened the door and seven dwarves trooped in. She quickly introduced them to me.

"This is Oin, Gloin, Gimli, Bari…" she continued with the names of all seven of the dwarves.

_Doesn't she mean Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey and co? lol, I guess not._

"Hiya, nice to meet you," I said, grinning at the dwarves. They looked like nice guys, even though the elves hated them.

"The same to you, miss," said one of them. I looked at him, and grinned. I was talking to Gimli!

_Wow, I've met loads of the Fellowship now! I mean, I've met Legolas, and Gimli, and… ok, I haven't met loads of the Fellowship. But I've met two of them! And unless we go home suddenly, I'll be meeting the others fairly soon!_

I started humming the Seven Dwarves song, and Caeli gave me a pointed look that clearly said 'SHUT UP!' I sighed, and stopped humming.

"What was the tune you were singing, Ariel? It reminds me of when I visited Balin in Moria many years ago, and the cheerfulness of all the dwarves who were working to mine precious mithril and gems," asked Gloin.

"It's not surprising that it reminds you of working in the mines, because the song was a description of some famous dwarves on their way to work," I said.

_Let's hope they don't ask for the lyrics; I don't suppose they'd like 'hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go, hi ho hi ho hi ho hi ho'._

"Caeli, I thought you said that dwarves are not known of in your country," said Gimli, looking confused.

"Everyone's heard of dwarves, only no-one thinks they're real. Dwarves are characters in stories, but until we came here we didn't realise you actually exist," Caeli explained. The dwarves looked satisfied with this explanation.

The nine of us sat in the room, chatting and telling stories, until the dwarves' stomachs started informing them that it was time for dinner.

_I have to say, dwarven stomachs make impressive rumbling noises when empty! Even better than mine! Which is always at its loudest during things like exams which require silence… oh well, no exams here YAY!_

The dwarves then excused themselves, leaving me and Caeli sitting there happily.

"Oh my god, we just met dwarves! That's so cool!" Caeli exclaimed.

"I know! I can't believe we've met TWO members of the… thingy," I said, realising halfway through my sentence that elves had excellent ears and did NOT need to know that we knew about the Fellowship. Which they didn't know about yet, but in a couple of months we really weren't going to need all the elves to suddenly look at us suspiciously.

"I'm going to go to dinner and see if I can spy any more members!" said Caeli.

"Have fun… hey, I've just thought of something…" I said, contemplating something in the film.

"What?" she asked.

"You know in the film, when Boromir is talking to Aragorn and he sees the shards of Narsil, when will he have time to do that? Because it happens before the Council." I said.

"So? Didn't he leave Gondor in what, June?" said Caeli, shrugging.

"Yeah, he LEFT Gondor in June. He arrived HERE at night on the 24th October," I explained, with the air of one resisting the urge to say DUH in a very long, drawn-out fashion.

"Oh yeah… oh well, does it matter? No, it doesn't. And I am HUNGRY so see ya later," she said, leaving the room.

_Uh oh… mental note: avoid Caeli for a week or two. Just because I'm that bad at that time of the month does NOT mean I want to get treated to Caeli's mood swings._

I heard a quiet conversation between Caeli and someone outside the door, but I couldn't hear it well enough to hear what they were talking about. The door started to open and then I heard something that I did NOT want to hear.

"Of course I will do as you say, Caeli, as you are the most beautiful, talented, and clever lady that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting," said a voice that unmistakably belonged to Legolas. A giggle from Caeli also made its way to my ears. I scowled at the doorknob, trying to convince myself that it wasn't Caeli's fault that Legolas obviously loved her.

The door opened, revealing the Prince that I least wished to see. Legolas was carrying a plate of food for me. He gave it to me, and sat down in a chair by my bed. I picked at the food, not really wanting to eat, but knowing that if I didn't eat then I would have Elrond on my case. After ten minutes in which I had sat there and scowled at my food, occasionally eating a bite, Legolas stopped watching me with a concerned look on his face and spoke up instead.

"What is wrong, Ariel?" he asked. I bit back a laugh at the absurdity of the question.

"What is wrong? What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong! What's wrong is that my best friend is not only liked by one handsome elf who likes her back, but now the elf that I like likes her! And she knows that I like him! And I'm angry because she can't just stick with one, she has to leave me alone for a week and then drag him away from me as well so I'm just sitting up here on my own while my best friend is off snogging my crush!" I said loudly. An odd look went across Legolas' face. For a moment he looked… disappointed, maybe? Then the look disappeared and was replaced with surprise.

"Ariel, you love Glorfindel?" he asked. I spluttered and stared at him.

"No! That's what I was saying, they like each other, but she's off with my crush too which is why I'm angry!" I explained.

"Who do you love then, Ariel?" Legolas asked, a hopeful look crossing his face. I presumed that he just wanted to find out. I supposed it would make good gossip, who the mortal human in the hospital bed fancied.

_YOU! Idiot, I like YOU!_

I stared at him, as red as a tomato. Luckily he figured that I was embarrassed because I just didn't want to say.

"Forgive me, that is something private to you. But I have not noticed Caeli having a close enough relationship with anyone except Glorfindel and myself for her to love them," he said.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying," I snapped, irritated at him for trying to lie to me about his relationship with Caeli.

"What?" he said, feigning confusion.

_I'll give you one thing, elfy, you're a good actor._

"Look, you can tell me that you fancy Caeli! I'm not going to dye you blue! I'm not some stupid possessive girl. If anyone would be mutilated it would be Caeli for having both of you!" I exclaimed, then realised my little… ok medium… ok huge mistake.

_Shit… please don't notice that I basically told you I like you… please…._

Legolas' jaw didn't drop, but it definitely descended a few feet and stopped a couple of inches off the ground.

_I guess he did notice. SHIT!_

"I don't love Caeli!" he said, looking surprised. I raised my eyebrows.

"Then what was with the beautiful-talented-cleverest-lady-I've-ever-met thing?" I asked. He blushed and winced.

_Ha! I knew it!_

"Caeli threatened to tell Elrond that I saw you topless if I didn't call her that. And I definitely do not feel that way about Caeli. There's someone I do feel that way about but it isn't Caeli," he said very quickly. I took a few seconds to separate the words in my head into a sentence.

"Oh… I think I just got grumpy over nothing… So who is it?" I asked. Legolas looked at me, deciding whether to tell me or not.

"Well… the girl I like is a friend of mine although I haven't known her for very long. She is not courting anybody at the moment… and from something she said to me earlier I know she likes me too. You can guess from that. Now tell me about the person you like," he said.

"Ok, he's an elf, he's a nice guy, and he's a friend of mine. He isn't courting anyone but he fancies some girl and I have no idea who because he only gives me hints. And there's no way that he'll ever like me back. And I'm not saying anymore because if I do it'll be really obvious who it is."

"Why would he not like you back?" he asked in a way that made me think that he would get seriously angry with the elf in question.

"Hm… let's see. 1) he's an elf and there've only been 3 elves in history that actually loved mortals. 2) he's amazingly handsome and I'm ugly. 3) he likes someone else," I informed him.

"Well, if you want a list, 1) the fact that it's uncommon makes it special. 2) you are not ugly. And finally, maybe the person that he likes is actually you, and he just does not know how to tell you, even though he knows you like him," Legolas said, a careful expression on his face as he went through point 3.

_I wish._

"I wish. Let's face it, it's never going to happen." I sighed, wishing that Legolas would love me. But obviously, he wouldn't. He'd just told me himself that he was interested in someone.

"Ariel?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah?" I said, wishing that we could be anywhere else but in the hospital. It would have just been so nice to be outside by a fountain. But I was stuck in bed, talking to my friend who I had a HUGE crush on and would never like me back.

"Will you tell me who you like, if I tell you first?" he inquired. I had to smile at the childish way he said it. It was too cute not to.

_Um, I really don't want to… oh well, might as well destroy our friendship sooner rather than later. It'll just hurt more if he rejects me when I know him better. At least rejection isn't quite as bad if it's not someone really close to you already. Not that it wouldn't be humiliating anyway, but oh well._

"Ok, if you say it first," I said, sighing.

"Ariel, I like…" he started, and was interrupted.

"Hi you two!" said Caeli, who just happened to burst in through the door at the moment of truth.

_I'm going to kill her!_

"Caeli…" me and Legolas said in unison, in fake sweet voices. She looked from me to Legolas and back to me.

"Um, am I interrupting something?" she said, raising her eyebrows at me. I glared at her.

"Yeah actually," I said. And with that, she shrugged and left.

_Great, today's been so fun. I think that my friend's going out with my crush, then I find out that my crush is crushing on someone else and then I insult my best friend. Yippee. Not._

**Caeli's POV**

I quickly exited the room. I was really tempted to wait outside the room to see what they were going to say but alas I realised Legolas with his elven ears would easily be able to detect my presence. I slumped down beside a tree intending to wait for the happy couple to emerge.

_After all that's got to be what's happening in there, Legolas is declaring his undying love for Ariel. I could be sitting here for a while._

I thought of going to see the dwarves -fascinating creatures by the way, did you know dwarves were the first race to come up with the idea of building cities underground for protection purposes? Apparently they would grow identical grass and flowers on the earth above where their settlements were so that they exactly resembled the environment around them and no enemies could find them – but then I remembered that they were still eating.

Never disturb a dwarf while it's eating. I learnt this the hard way when my left hand was almost sliced off one dinnertime when I accidentally surprised one. The said left hand is only still with me because Elladan pulled me out of the way just in time. Honestly, dwarves are worse than hobbits! _Speaking of the devil…_

Bilbo was hobbling towards me with his stick. He waved in salutation when he saw me and I waved back. We had actually met in rather odd circumstances, it started one morning when I was being taught how to throw a knife by Glorfindel…

Flashback:

"How in middle earth are you supposed to hit that?" I gaped. The target was about a mile away.

"Being an elf would probably help," answered Glorfindel smiling and taking some small throwing knives out of a box. "Do you want to try?"

"Me, I don't even know which way round to hold them never mind hit it, the bullseye's tiny for goodness sake!"

"To your eyes maybe," said Glorfindel.

"Oh, so if you're so clever and elfy you try and hit it,"

"Ok," he said and aimed a knife at the target in front of us. I went behind him and whispered in his ear:

"Hit the bullseye and I'll sleep with you,"

"WHAT!" the knife flew into the air and implanted itself into a nearby tree.

"Don't say 'what' say 'pardon'," I informed him whilst clapping sarcastically. All the elves nearby had gone completely silent in shock.

"Is it the custom in your world to offer to sleep with a man in such an off hand way?" he asked, his face was priceless!

"Well, that would depend on how... loose you were," I said smiling mischievously.

"And do you consider yourself loose?" he questioned me.

"How dare you question my chastity!" I said pretending to be shocked and playfully hitting him.

"Then why did you say that to me?" he challenged back.

"I knew you would never hit the bullseye if I distracted you like that, you startle when you're shocked, like that time in river"

"I could have hit it, what then?"

"Well, in the very unlikely event that you did hit that microscopic little dot over there," I gestured to the target, "and in the even more unlikely event you would consider sleeping with me… well we would have to see…" I said grinning. Luckily Glorfindel took this the right way.

"A pity I missed then!" he said laughing. He handed me another throwing knife.

"If you manage to hit anywhere on the target, I'll give you any pink fish that comes my way for a week." The pink fish did have an elvish name that he told me over lunch once but was so shocked at my pronunciation he asked me never to say it again and referred to it always as 'the pink fish'.

"You wouldn't joke about pink fish now would you?" I checked, I didn't want to get my hopes up for nothing.

"Never," he assured me solemnly placing a hand on my shoulder. We both burst out laughing.

"Very well sir, I shall take you up on that challenge!" I took the knife and held it at arms length and closed one eye so that I could see the point of the blade and the bulls-eye lined up. I drew the knife back and threw it so that it spun threw the air.

Time seemed to slow down, just like it does in films when you see a bullet going in the direction of the baddy. The only difference between this and real life was that there's usually a voice over to fill in the silence in films saying something along the lines of: i_f that kills that guy over there the world will be saved and I will be the greatest hero that ever lived, right there, right now. _However in real life I was thinking: _a week of the heavenly much worshipped bright pink florescent fish, right there, right now._

My knife hit the very edge of the target. It wobbled for a moment as if considering then fell back down to middle-earth, off the target. I stared, it couldn't do that, I hit it! Well, I wasn't going to let a knife that was too keen on gravity destroy my chances of extra pink fish!

"It hit!" I told Glorfindel triumphantly.

"It fell off again," replied Glorfindel stating the obvious.

"But it still hit!" I argued. "You owe me all your pink fish for a week!"

"Half,"

"What?"

"Pardon." he corrected me.

"What!"

"Because it fell off the target you get half my pink fish for a week,"

"Two weeks,"

"I agreed one!" he laughed.

"One and half,"

"Deal."

End Flashback.

Well, Glorfindel of course being an elf of honour kept his word and I was still getting half his pink fish, however, delicious, as the pink fish is, that is not the point of the story. The point is, when Glorfindel missed the target an elf who had been witness had then told his duelling partner at the other side of the training grounds of the news, apparently Glorfindel missing was a once-in-a-lifetime (even for elves) experience. Anyway, his duel partner then told his wife...

Who told the seamstress…

Who told Elrohir…

Who told Elladan…

Who told Elrond…

Who told Bilbo…

Who then came to meet me wishing for a first hand account but thinking it safer not to get it from Glorfindel himself. And that ladies and gentlemen, is how we met. Back to me sitting by a tree…

"Bilbo!" I called over as I walked up to him.

"Caeli! Not with Ariel today I see?"

"No, her and Legolas kinda shoved me out of the room."

"How rude!"

"I think they had something to say to each other in privet," I said grinning.

"Oh I see…" said Bilbo knowingly. Of all the races of Middle-earth it isn't the hobbits that generally spring to mind as being the most gifted in the intelligence department but I swear this one was as wise as an elf, wiser, I felt sometimes.

"I sometimes think that you and Glorfindel have some talking to do in that area," he said watching my expression carefully.

"What? Me? Glorfindel? Just because we practise together…" I protested.

"and from what I hear, fall into rivers together,"

"That was an accident!"

"And the fish,"

"That's an agreement between me and him, he gives me half his-"

"He gives you a lot more than half and you know it," said Bilbo smiling. I fell silent.

"Do you think he likes me?" I asked him cautiously. He gave me one of his omniscient looks.

"I don't know. To learn exactly how the Lord of Gondolin feels would, I think, take a lifetime of study. More than I am prepared to give!" he said cheerfully. I smiled sadly. Bilbo looked at me for a while before saying: "Do you like him?" I paused for a moment.

"Well yes… yes of course I do I mean his clever and kind and talented…" I said slightly dreamily, "and he's got the most beautiful blue eyes-"

"You're starting to sound like the elven ladies round here," laughed Bilbo cutting off.

"I thought they liked Legolas?"

"They do, but in the words of one fair lady, who shall remain anonymous, 'Glorfindel is better than amazing all round apart from being possible to attract, Legolas however, is exotic, that's why everyone likes him'"

"That's what she said, impossible to attract?" I said incredulously, if elves couldn't do it I hadn't got a hope in Valinor.

"Those were her exact words." Bilbo confirmed. I sighed. "So you _do_ like him?" persisted Bilbo. I smiled and looked at the grass beneath my feet, Bilbo had a habit of asking exactly the right questions, but ones that you didn't always know how to answer.

"Even if I did," I sighed "In the words of the fair lady 'he's impossible to attract',"

"For elves," he reminded me.

"Exactly!" I said, "Which means that I, mere mortal-" but then I was cut off by a voice behind me.

"Who ever said anything about you just being a 'mere' mortal?" I temporarily lost the power to speak because… it was Glorfindel himself. Bilbo looked at me pointedly as if that was exactly what he was about to say.

"How much did you hear?" I said defensively.

"Just something about elves and what you said about being a mere mortal," he said quickly "I sorry if I disturbed you if you were talking about privet matters, I shouldn't have surprised you like that."

"That's ok its… don't worry," I replied. _Please say elves don't lie, if he heard the part about him may the earth devour me right now! Ok, ok, make sensible conversation or he'll think there's something wrong with you… then again he probably knows that already…_

"Erm so… lovely weather!" I commented cheerfully filling in the silence. Bilbo gave me a very obvious 'you can do better than that look' and Glorfindel looked worried.

"Are you feeling alright Caeli?" he said and put his hand against my forehead. A tingle went all the way up my spine and I shivered. "You should lie down for a while," he said leading me to the house of healing.

"No, no its ok, I'm fine, don't worry." I said quickly turning round.

"I think Legolas and Ariel are have a little discussion that they would rather wasn't intruded upon," said Bilbo to Glorfindel.

"Oh," said Glorfindel. "Do you want to lie down somewhere else?" he asked me again.

"No, really I'm absolutely fine, you worry too much." I said smiling.

"You sure?" he asked again.

"YES!" I said impatiently. He looked taken aback and I regretted it. "Sorry…sorry I'm just, its just that time of the month… I get annoyed easily just ask Ariel, well don't, not now anyway, I mean you can asked her another time just… oh my god what am I talking about? I'm sorry…"

I collapsed into a pathetic emotional heap on the ground.

Glorfindel tried to help me but I waved him away and got up again.

"I'll go… actually can I go and sit by your fountain for a bit?" I asked him. I seriously needed some peace everything was just confusing me. Despite what I say about hobbits and dwarves being lovely (as they are), they were also a lot to take in, they just look weird, I don't mean that in a horrible way but it's the truth. I wasn't used to it and my mind was finally starting to register that there was something really wrong with where I was. Elves I can cope with as they look like humans apart from a more beautiful version and I think I just imagine that the ears plastic surgery but hobbits and dwarves… I just couldn't come up with a rational explanation for so many of them.

"Of course," said Glorfindel kindly "take as long as you like,"

I thanked him and went off towards his room and thanked him silently when I realised he wasn't following me meaning he knew I needed some time alone. He wasn't really such a bad guy thinking about it: D

--------

Heya everyone, we are so sorry this chapter took ages, but we've both been revising for our mocks until 3 in the morning for two weeks and so we just haven't had time to write. Now we're back at school we should be able to update once a week, and we'll try and make sure we do. Mints to everyone who reviews!


	15. Chapter 15

Ala: Due to unforeseen circumstances, Tin is currently incapacitated and unable to ride on the fell beast.

Fell beast: YAY/hugs its teddy bear/

Ala/rolls eyes at fell beast/ And here I was, thinking you're a big scary dragon thing… and there you are hugging your teddy. Pathetic excuse for a Nazgul-steed…

Witch-King: Stop insulting my poor ickle fell beasty! And why is Tin incapacitated?

Ala: We put a sheet over our heads and tried to scare her parents for a joke. We only managed to scare her cat but she is currently running around cheering that she managed to scare something. /rolls eyes/

Tin: WOOHOOOO! I'M SCARY!

Tin's pot plant: And I thought that meeting your maths teacher while I was on holiday was bad… I feel sorry for the woman. Well, no I don't, but STOP ACTING LIKE A RETARD, YOU… you… you… RETARD!

Ala: ANYWAY. Gwaihir, drum roll please!

Gwaihir/does drum roll/

Legolas: I'm doing the disclaimer! Yay! Anyway, Ala and Scary Tin /snigger/ own Ariel and Caeli. Tolkien owns the rest. Oh yeah, Tin owns her pot plant.

Ariel: Just you wait… I WILL own you someday, elfy boy…

Legolas/girly scream/ NOOOO! RABID FANGIRL!

**Chapter 15**

**Ariel POV**

Two days before my birthday, I was released from the clutches of the House of Healing, being sent off by Elrond, who had a very un-Elf-Lord look on his face. To put it simply, he had a massive grin on his face. Presumably because he was glad to see the back of me.

_Now I think about it, that's such a strange expression. I mean, why would anyone, especially a male, prefer to look at my back than at my front? Because personally, I can't see anything interesting about my back. Ok, so I can't see my back at all, but still!_

I was woken up early on the morning of the 23rd July by an excited Caeli squealing and jumping onto my bed. She then continued bouncing until I cracked open an eyelid in preparation to verbally abuse her. Then I noticed the pile of presents at the end of my bed.

_For me?_

Obviously, I jumped out of bed, ran around the room singing 'Happy Birthday to Me' a couple of times then bounced back onto the bed, next to the presents.

"Happy birthday Ariel!" said two voices. I looked at the door, which I hadn't noticed was open, and saw Legolas standing there. I dragged him over to where Caeli was sitting and we had a nice group hug. Once we'd finished hugging, I looked at the presents.

"Do I get to open them now or later?" I asked hopefully.

_I know, I'm such a kid. But hey, birthdays are fun, and I totally love them. And when I'm happy, I get hyper. When I get hyper, I celebrate! YAYNESS ABOUND!_

"Open the ones from us now and then the rest later," Caeli told me. I grinned and took the parcel that she handed to me. It was wrapped in linen, seeing as elves didn't have wrapping paper. It was actually kind of nice to have to unwrap the present carefully so that I didn't destroy the linen. It was a nice change from ripping the paper off and then wishing that I'd taken longer so that the whole process of waiting to find out what was inside would be stretched out. Anyway, I undid the linen wrapping to reveal a beautiful necklace. It was a simple silver necklace with a cross. I threw my arms around Caeli and babbled on about 'thank you thank you thank you' for a while, until she detangled me and helped me put it on. It felt great to have a necklace to remind me of my religion, because the more I'd been in Rivendell, the harder it had been to remember that I didn't actually believe that the Valar were gods, just powerful non-humans.

Legolas then handed me a soft package, also wrapped up in white cloth. I undid the wrapping and stared at the exquisite dress that I'd just unveiled. It was a pale rose colour and was made of a soft floaty material. Below the elbows on the sleeves, the sleeves were made of a slightly paler colour and were made of lace. It was the most beautiful dress I'd ever seen. I immediately threw myself at Legolas and hugged him for quite a while, until Caeli suggested that I put the dress on and then she'd do my hair. I gave her a big hug and when she asked me what it was for, I told her it was for being a great friend and also for telling Legolas that I'd always wanted a dress that colour.

I quickly put the dress on and emerged from behind the screen, announcing my presence by turning round and round in circles to make the skirt swirl out.

"Remind me to thank whoever sewed this!" I said, and was informed that it was made by Elrohir's girlfriend.

_Aw! I've never met her, but I already like her! I mean, if Elrohir likes her she's a nice person, and now that she made this, she's right up there on my Favourite People list!_

At breakfast, I walked into the room with Caeli and Legolas, and received lots of friendly 'Happy Begetting Day' greetings from all my friends. The day passed in a blur of opening presents (Glorfindel, on Caeli's request, had got me a cross bracelet, and Elrond had given me an empty book so that I could keep a diary to help me get used to being in Middle-earth), having fun and eating slices of the massive birthday cake that Caeli had apparently cooked herself. It tasted GREAT.

_Remind me to ask Caeli since when she knows how to cook like that! I mean, I remember making brownies at her house quite often, but they normally turned out burnt, lol._

After dinner, at which Caeli convinced everyone to sing happy birthday to me, we all went off to the Hall of Fire, where my birthday party was apparently going to be held. I had no idea what the party was actually being to be like, because all Caeli would tell me was that I was going to love it.' She was right.

The Hall of Fire was full of elves, dwarves, and a few Dunadain who I hadn't met before. Lindir, the bard, played music and everyone danced. The music he played was beautiful, and I danced with quite a few different people, including Elladan, Glorfindel, Elrohir, and surprisingly Elrond, before I started dancing with Legolas.

"Did I ever mention to you that I really can't dance?" I asked Legolas.

"No, and you can dance. That's what you are doing now, I believe," he said, smiling at me.

_Those eyes… drool…_

"Just 'cause I'm dancing, doesn't mean I'm doing it well. But oh well, I don't actually care. You might want to watch out for your feet though," I said, laughing.

"Ariel, come with me! Sorry Legolas, can I butt in?" asked Caeli, and dragged me off towards Lindir.

"Lindir, can you play the song I taught you now? Me and Ariel will sing along," said Caeli to the aforementioned elf. I stared at her.

"Uh, Caeli, I probably don't know the song you want to sing. Plus, I can't sing anyway. Oh well, just tell me what it is?" I protested, and then realised that I was probably expected to do something of the singing variety seeing as it was my birthday.

Lindir began to play the first few bars of the song, and I gasped.

"I love this song!" I exclaimed happily. Me, Caeli, and Lindir then proceeded to sing Circle of Life from The Lion King.

_Ok, so I don't actually mind singing. I'm just one of those people who have the motto, 'dance when no one is watching. Sing when no one is in the house.' _

After we sung the song, me and Caeli descended upon Lindir and group-hugged him, which, needless to say, created a rather amusing look of surprise on his face.

_Heh heh heh… methinks we're converting the elves to hugging. We should start our own fellowship of the hugs! Make that girlship of the hugs._

A few songs later, during which I danced with Legolas and Caeli danced with Glorfindel, the elves started to disperse, due to their love of stargazing and singing to Elbereth. Which was nice, but as I commented to Legolas, a party just wasn't complete without a sleepover and some inebriation at the end.

"Well, if you and Caeli would like to organise the sleepover part of that, I believe that I could find some wine to deal with the requirement of inebriation," Legolas winked, and I grinned.

"Deal. If you see Elladan and Elrohir, tell them to come to my room, ok? And bring the alcohol," I said. Legolas headed off to find some alcohol, and I found Caeli and Glorfindel sitting by the fire talking.

"Hey guys, I figured that now would be a good time to start the pyjama party. So, Caeli, come with me, and Glorfindel, do you think that you could help Legolas procure some alcohol?" Glorfindel acquiesced to my request, and Caeli came with me back to our room, giggling all the time.

Once we got back to our room, we collapsed on our beds, grinning. Needless to say, we'd planned this beforehand. And from experience, we decided to change into quite a lot of layers. Not that either of us would take our clothes off when sober, but the last party we'd both been at had had… interesting forfeits when we played Spin the Bottle.

A knock at the door heralded the arrival of Legolas and Glorfindel who had pilfered four caskets of something.

"Yay! Alcohol! Thanks! What is it?" I asked, wanting to know what I was going to be drinking.

"Strong Dorwinion wine, which is normally to be drunk sparingly. However, I believe that your coming of age birthday deserves celebration," grinned Legolas. I found myself wondering if he had already had a glass or two. Not that he was acting drunk, but he was oddly cheerful and, well, bouncy for an elf.

Elladan and Elrohir arrived soon after, and the six of us just lay around chatting for a while. OK, and sipping wine… ok, drinking wine… ok, glugging wine. Anyway, all of us soon became a bit drunk. Well, Glorfindel and Legolas were tipsy, the twins were VERY VERY tipsy, and me and Caeli were even more so.

"Ariel, what is Spin the Bottle? You said you'd tell me today," said Legolas.

"It's a game and you spin a bottle and whoever it lands on you have to kiss," I explained cheerfully.

"Wanna play?" asked Caeli, a slightly maniacal grin on her face. All the elves agreed.

"If you don't want to kiss the person you have to do a forfy… fortyf… forteif… dare," I added.

"Forfeit, stupid!" Caeli giggled.

"What is this forfeit?" asked Elrohir curiously.

"Um…. You have to take your shirt off," I said quickly.

_What better excuse to get their shirts off?_

"I'll play," said Legolas, and the others quickly agreed.

Elladan picked up one of the bottles of wine and put it on the floor. He then spun it. Unfortunately, the bottle was still half full of wine, so we all got covered in wine. We quickly drank what was left in the bottle. Me and Caeli did ip dip doo on everyone to see who got to spin first. Elladan got to be the lucky person. He spun the bottle, and all our eyes were fixated on it. Then it stopped, while pointing at Elrohir.

Obviously, both twins immediately removed their shirts. We played for a while, and quite soon all the guys were shirtless, and so me and Caeli were noticeably interested… well, we kept the drool back. Let's just leave it at the fact that they all looked excellent minus the shirts. it was actually quite funny, because although all the elves were willing to give me and Caeli kisses, they absolutely refused to let their mouths within ten inches of each other without squealing and saying 'eww!'

Inevitably, the bottle landed so that me and Caeli either had to kiss or go shirtless. We took one repulsed look at each other and wordlessly took our tops off.

After a while, we got a bit bored of Spin the Bottle, and ended up finishing off the four caskets of Dorwinion wine. Me and Caeli had a great time teaching the elves 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', and the six of us then decided to serenade Rivendell with it from the balcony. It was a lot of fun, but then Elrond evidently couldn't stand the noise anymore.

_Elves cannot sing when they're drunk. In fact, we sound more like a pack of wolves howling to the moon than four elves and two humans!_

"What is going on here?" asked Elrond in shock, having barged into the room to shut us up and seeing that the elves were topless and me and Caeli had only managed to retain our bras. Understandably, he was a bit surprised.

The pyjama party was forcibly broken up by Elrond, who made us carry the caskets back to the cellars in the hope that some fresh air might do us good. We ended up lugging the things all the way to Erestor's room, having been assured by a drunken Glorfindel that Erestor had a secret passageway to the cellars that you could access by climbing a tree vine through a hole in his ceiling and crawling along a tunnel.

"What on Arda are you doing?" Erestor exclaimed, after I had the bright idea of banging the crate against his door in order to wake him up.

"Can we come through the secret passageway, no I mean passoyage, I mean passageway? To the cellar? Cause Elrond made us carry these all the way to the cellars and Glorfy says its quickest to go through your ceiling into the secret passageway…" I rambled, and Erestor attempted to shut me up by putting a hand over my mouth. Which I ignored, and carried on rambling. In the end, he rolled his eyes, sighed, and dragged the crates in, then slammed his door in our face, all the while muttering unreasonably about sleeping.

The six of us made our way back to our own rooms. Glorfindel managed to find his, Caeli decided to sleep on top of a bookshelf in the library, and the twins curled up in their father's study because they forgot where their rooms were. When I got to my room, I looked up at Legolas confusedly.

"This isn't your room its mine," I said.

"I know but I have a present that I want to give you," he replied.

"You gave me the dress remember, I wore it earlier," I said, not understanding what he was talking about.

"Well, it's something different. Ariel, you remember the other day, when I was telling you about the girl I like and that I know that she likes me because she told me?" he questioned. I scrunched my nose up in confusion. Being reminded of that wasn't the greatest extra birthday present I'd ever had.

"How could I forget?" I asked.

"Well, I was talking about you, but I wanted to wait until your birthday to tell you, but then you thought that I liked Caeli…" he kept talking, but I lost him after the sixth word. I looked at him blankly. Then, my brain started functioning again, and processed those six words.

_Wait… did he just say… he likes me?_

"So, you mean that you like me? As in like me like me? Not as in like me as a friend?" I checked, wanting to make sure I'd heard him right. After all, if that wasn't what he said, I could always blame the wine.

"Yes, Ariel, I do. A lot." He confirmed, and I stared at him, a smile on my face, as I tried to comprehend the fact that Legolas liked me.

"Ariel…?" he asked, uncertainly. I then realised that I hadn't actually said anything.

"Legolas, I really like you too. My mind just isn't quite working very fast right now," I said, smiling at him.

And then he kissed me.

**Caeli's POV**

I was dreaming about pink Easter bunnies. I was in a field and they were hoping towards me. As they got closer I realised that their Easter eggs were horrible and mouldy and icky, they were evil Easter bunnies! I backed away, but they kept coming, more and more of them. Then I noticed the big one nearest me was calling my name. "Caeli!" in said evilly. It had scary red eyes and it was getting nearer… and nearer "Caeli!" it called.

"No go away!" I shouted back, "I don't want your horrible easter egg, it's nasty!"

"Caeli there you are!" _oh no it's found me! But wait, it could see me all a long why is it saying it's found me? _"CAELI! WAKE UP!" _huh? _the field of the evil pink Easter bunnies began to fade but as I sleepily escaped from their world the one with red eyes must have hit me with it's Easter egg because I was suddenly aware of a splitting headache.

"CAELI!" the voice called again.

"Huh?" I mumbled. I_t must be Ariel trying to get me up. No, wait a second, Ariel NEVER wakes up before me, apart from that one sleepover…_

"Are you awake?" asked the voice. It was then I realised that the voice was coming from below me.

"Huh?" I said again, trying to slowly open my eyes.

"You should be careful up there!" _Up? Huh? What? Pink rabbits? _I opened my eyes carefully and the first thing I noticed was the ceiling. Yes, it's what I usually notice when I get up but this ceiling was uncomfortably near to my face.

"What?" I said sleepily.

"I said you should be careful up there." came the reply. I looked down in the direction of the voice. I looked down… down… down… until I saw Erestor's face looking up at me.

"Wha... why?" I asked him as my brain attempted to process the information that I seemed to be lying on top of a very, very high bookshelf. "Who put me up… up here?" I demanded with as much semblance of authority as I could muster. Of course being a lot higher above him helped.

"You did." he stated. _Did I just detect a flicker of a smile?_

"Huh?"

"You decided to sleep up here last night." he clarified… or not.

"Why would I…?"

"I don't think you were thinking straight at the time." _Huh? Not thinking straight, I always…oh_

"Oh… oh no… oh I didn't did I? How did I get myself up here?" I said as vague recollections of the day before began to sink in.

"I have no idea," Erestor said, he was defiantly smiling now... evil!

"Caeli! What…?" Glorfindel had just come in and was staring at me. Well, I don't blame him; I was on top of a bookshelf.

"I believe that you were the only one of Ariel's little party who found their room last night Glorfindel," said Erestor smirking. Glorfindel was still gaping at me with a more surprised expression than I have ever seen on him before.

"How did you get up there?" he asked.

"I dunno," I said rubbing my eyes and trying to forget about my head. "Well don't look so surprised I can't be the only one you've seen sleeping up here in all the thousands of years you've lived, I can't be the first!"

"You are," said Erestor and Glorfindel at once.

"Oh," I paused then said, "So… you don't know how to get me down?"

"No," said Erestor.

"Jump." said Glorfindel. Neither the prospect of staying up there until elves left Middle-earth or doing a suicide jump particularly appealed to me. Strange that.

"I am not jumping," I stated flatly. No way anytime, especially not when the world seemed to by rocking slightly.

"I'll catch you," said Glorfindel. _In your dreams elf of Gondolin, I am not going to die in front of you… not today anyway. _At that moment Ariel entered the library.

"Aren't you down yet?" she said.

"Good morning to you to!" I relied crossly, why did everyone think I could just jump? The drink had worn off… a bit…

"Jump!" she advised.

"I promise I won't drop you," said Glorfindel. He was using that pleading look again the one that was just irresistible…

"Ok, ok I'll jump… when the world's stopped spinning."

"Nothing is moving Caeli," said Erestor.

"Well it is for me!" I blinked a few times and realised it didn't help. _Eru help me… and Iluvatar… no wait, Eru and Iluvatar are the same person… ok umm Elbereth… Ulmo… _I got up carefully and got ready to jump. But as I started to stand properly I must have put my weight on the wrong part of the bookshelf because I tilted, wobbled slightly, and then, taking me with it, fell to the ground.

Hundreds of books seemed to have landed on top of me. I slowly uncovered myself. Glorfindel and Erestor (I was very surprised at him) were helping to excavate me.

"Caeli!" shouted Ariel "Oh my god, are ok?" she asked running up to me.

"I'm erm, well no," I said rubbing my head. Glorfindel was pulling me out of the wreckage of what was the bookshelf. He put me on my feet but I just collapsed back onto the floor in my body's attempt to get back to sleep.

"I need water," I groaned "and an aspirin…"

"I know you don't like the house of healing but you're going there anyway," said Glorfindel decisively.

"As long as someone will carry me," I said pathetically from the floor. As he said, I really didn't want to go to the houses of healing but I was to hung over to argue.

"We you don't look like you can walk there," said Glorfindel and picked me up off the floor.

"I'll get the aspirin, I need some too, lots actually, I dunno why I didn't think of it before but anyway… I could swear there are horses stampeding through my brain right now…" said Ariel and went off to our room.

"Just don't kill yourself on it," I said.

"I wont!" came the reply. Glorfindel carried me in the other direction, to the house of healing.

"You're a good pillow…" I mumbled, resting my head against his chest.

"Thank you," he said smiling down at me. "What's aspirin?"

"asPIRIN," I corrected emphasising the last two syllables. "It's a medicine. Good for hangovers."

"What are hangovers?" he asked.

"You don't get them?" I asked looking up at him. I should have guessed.

"I don't know what you're talking about so I cannot say whether elves as a race 'get them'"

"A hangover is when you wake up the morning after you've drunk to much and you have a splitting headache and you feel really thirsty." I explained sleepily.

"Are you allergic to alcohol?" Glorfindel asked looking concerned, bless him!

"I guess elves don't get hung over then, no I'm not allergic, I just shouldn't have had that much… it was strong stuff…" I smiled at the memory.

"Very," said Glorfindel. We had arrived at the house of healing.

"Don't put me down I'm comfortable!" I complained as Glorfindel carefully put me onto a bed.

"You need to rest," he said.

"I can rest in my room!"

"And you should take some medicine," he said ignoring me going to a shelf stacked with jars of herbs and leaves. If I were back home I would say they looked severely dodgy.

"You're not giving me drugs are you?" I said suspiciously.

"Of course I am!" said Glorfindel, so cheerfully I burst out laughing. Ariel came in.

"I thought you were just as hung over as me and just had a book case fall on top of you?" she asked.

"He's turning me into a druggy!" I said between hysterical laughs. Ariel looked at me for a moment then pushed the packet of aspirin and a glass of water into my hands. Glorfindel came back with a glass of green liquid and set it beside me.

"Is that the aspirin?" he asked pointing at the small white tablet in my hand.

"Yup," I said and put it in my mouth and had some water.

"That's must be far too small to help," said Glorfindel. Oh dear, I could just see another conversation on 'the wonders of modern science' coming up.

"Trust me, it's big enough." I said.

"But, wouldn't you feel better if you took more?" he asked, unable it seemed, to quite understand what I was trying to explain.

"No!" Ariel and I both said at the same time.

"You take too much and you die," said Ariel.

"It's poison?" said Glorfindel, now looking alarmed.

"No!" I sighed "Just please, trust me, never ever take more than one or two of these ok?" I asked. He frowned. "Promise me," I insisted.

"Ok, I promise if it is that important to you." he said finally. "Now drink that it will help," He indicated the green stuff. I looked at it suspiciously.

"You're not going to ask her to drink that are you?" asked Ariel looking disgusted.

"Yes," said Glorfindel simply. I held the glass, took at deep breath, and down the whole thing in two seconds.

"Yum!" I said, much to the surprise of Ariel. Glorfindel was grinning. "Not bad!" I said.

By the time we had managed to get Glorfindel to understand that aspirin did not contain herbs, hence it's white colour, I felt as good as new.

"I feel lots better now thank you Glorfindel!" I said and hugged him.

"Well you seem to be in much the same spirits as yesterday," commented Glorfindel after hugging me back. I frowned. "You were hugging just about anything that moved!"

"And what's wrong with that?" demanded Ariel.

"Nothing, of course!" said Glorfindel happily. "There's not enough of it!"

"Well then we have to compensate!" I said and gleefully squeezed Glorfindel and Ariel all over again.

"We should get drunk more often!" suggested Ariel.

"Well if it means more singing of that song… 'Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer' I think you said it was? Well it's probably best you don't get drunk again!"

"We sung that!" I asked in shock "Surely not?" Glorfindel just grinned evilly. At that moment I felt that, in the words of Virgil, 'the earth should gape open for me to its lowest depths or the almighty father drive me with his thunderbolt to the shades'. I went pink.

"We did!" he said, "to the whole of Rivendell!"

"Oh no!" said Ariel.

"And then I went to sleep on the bookshelf…" I reminisced. "And then you and Legolas… what did you do?" I asked Ariel.

"He went back to his own room," said Ariel firmly, then she paused and a very odd expression came over her face.

"Ariel…?" I questioned her encouraging her to go on.

"We just talked for a while…" she said, but she seemed to be off in the clouds.

-----------------------------------

Ala: Firstly we would like to explain that we do not condone binge drinking.

Tin: Apart from on very important occasions!

Ala: But even then…

Tin: It's still great!

Ala: Quiet! I'm trying to cover us legally ok?

Tin: Right…

Ala: Tell them about the bra thing

Tin: The WHAT!

Ala: Spin the bottle?

Tin: Oh yeah, before we get 10 zillion flames we would like to point out that Tolkien said that elves are comfortable with nakedness.

Ala: In private

Tin: Which Ariel's Party was

Ala: Indeed

Tin: And I would just like to clarify that for a change Ariel was telling the truth, Legolas did go back to his room for the night.

Ala/Coughs/

Tin: After that little… chat.

Ala: Please review!

Tin: Yup!

PS: Ala would like to point out the terrible deeds of her spell check. It wanted to change the holy name of 'Iluvatar' to 'Elevator'! Honestly, spell checkers these days…

Tin: Hehee… don't tell Gloin, but my spell checker wanted to rename him Groin, lol. Glad my name isn't Gloin… hahaha.

Gloin: WHAT?

Tin: oops….


	16. Chapter 16

Tin: YAY! We've finished our mocks!

Ala: So we have… erm, the same amount of time to write as normal!

Sauron: Darn… wish they'd hurry up the timeline a few years and die…

Ala: HEY! MEANIE!

Ariel/pokes Sauron in the eye/

Caeli: Try this /hands Ariel pepper spray/

Ariel/sprays Sauron/

Sauron: OW! MUMMY!

Arwen: People, can you just hurry up? Pretty please?

Aragorn: I second that.

Fell beasty's teddy bear: OK, you know it, we know it, but it's a source of entertainment for the authors. Anyway, they own nothing except Ariel, Caeli, and Tin's pot plant. Tolkien owns the rest, and the Witch-King owns the fell beasty that owns me.

**Chapter 16**

**Ariel POV**

_So… me and Legolas kissed. Did it mean anything to him? Sure, it meant a lot to me, and he DID say that he likes me, but we were both drunk at the time, so maybe it was just the alcohol talking… I really hope he meant it and he didn't just say it because he was drunk._

After rescuing Caeli from the top of the bookshelf, and as soon as I could think clearly, I tortured myself for a while with unpleasant thoughts about Legolas not really liking me. I had to admit, I'd always been a bit clueless when it came to figuring out how guys were thinking. And when I took that information and added in the fact that I was either a few thousand years into the past or in a completely different WORLD to my own, plus I was thinking about an elf and not a regular guy like I normally knew, I had absolutely no idea what to think.

"Ariel, what's wrong? You've been staring at the wall for the last ten minutes," observed Caeli.

"Oh err nothing's wrong, I'm just a bit hungover from last night, that's all," I mumbled, trying to look as hung over as possible.

"Ariel, something's bugging you. So tell me what it is," said Caeli, the ever-observant-nosy-best-friend. I sighed.

"I'll tell you if you promise not to squeal and jump around the room in circles, ok? Because my head really wouldn't like that," I bargained.

"Ooohhh ok… what's this you're about to tell me?" Caeli said, a gleam in her eye that undoubtedly came from her status as a crazy curious teenage girl.

"I kissed Legolas last night but I don't know if he likes me or not," I said in a rush. Caeli looked confused.

"You kissed the other guys too, remember? We were playing Spin the Bottle," she said.

"No, I don't mean that, that was just a peck on the lips. After we all went to Erestor's rooms, and then you guys all went to sleep in weird places, cough bookshelves cough, Legolas told me he likes me and then he kissed me. But now I don't know if he just said that because he was drunk or not," I finished. Caeli scowled at the bookshelf reference, then cheered up immediately when I told her about the kissing part. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's fairly obvious to anyone with half a brain that he likes you, so you don't have anything to worry about," she said. I looked at her sceptically.

"Well, I'm the proud owner of only half a brain CELL, not a full half of a brain, so I'm not sure I believe you…" I trailed off, and rolled my eyes at myself.

_Idiot!_

"Where are you going?" she asked, as I dragged myself up from the grass.

"To go and talk to Legolas, duh," I said, and pulled a face at her. We had a quick, childish game of 'who can make the worst face' (Caeli won – she was always good at making her eyes go crossed), and then I walked off purposefully.

_Hah. Purposefully. snicker The only type of purposefully I'm doing right now is the sort of purposefully that means 'I'm pretending to not be a bag of jelly inside, although as soon as I find him my knees are going to knock and my legs might collapse.' I suppose that's the good thing about long dresses; when your knees are shaky no one can tell. Plus fainting into his arms would be embarrassing but definitely a very Hollywood moment, heheh._

I had no idea where to find Legolas, so I wandered up to the training grounds in the hope that he would be there. He wasn't, but I found Merenon there. Merenon was an elf who Caeli had befriended, but who I didn't know all that well. I hadn't talked to him that much, seeing as I'd been in bed for about two weeks. In fact, I didn't know that many people in Rivendell. I knew a few elves by sight, and I'd met quite a few at my party, but mainly my friends were Elrond's family, Legolas, Glorfindel, the dwarves, and obviously Caeli.

_I REALLY need to work on my social life around here!_

"Hi, Merenon!" I said, grinning at the elf. Although I didn't know him well, I'd worked out that he was a friendly, easy-going elf who joked a lot. His dark hair made it evident that he was a.. well, a native, I suppose, of Rivendell (as opposed to the blond elves who were visiting from Lothlorien and Mirkwood). I also had the feeling that with a little… indoctrination, he could be persuaded to join me and Caeli on some fun adventures… okay, causing havoc. Well, that was probably going too far. Fun-loving or not, he was still a dignified Elf.

_Oh well… I guess two crazy mayhem-causing idiots are enough for Rivendell to cope with…_

"Hello, Ariel. How are you?" he asked, smiling back at me.

"I'm fine thanks. Have you any idea where Legolas is? I really need to talk to him," I asked.

"I believe that Prince Legolas is relaxing by the fountain on the hill there," he replied, emphasising the Prince part of the sentence. I sighed. Titles had never been something I needed to remember before. Suddenly arriving in a place where every second… well, every third or fourth person was a Lord or a Lady or something like that, was confusing to say the least.

"Oh… sorry, I always forget titles. Back home we never used to use them much so I'm not very used to it," I explained.

"I understand. But is it not rather easy to remember that he is a prince?" Merenon commented.

_Yeah, well, if you're on good enough terms with the aforementioned prince to sit in a garden and snog him, I'd say you're good enough friends to drop the titles. But lets hope Merenon hasn't had any first hand experience with the snogging Legolas part… ewwwwww. Subject change necessary!_

I strolled off towards the hill that Merenon pointed me to. Not that it was a massive mountain in the middle of Rivendell, just… one of those raised blobs of ground with slopes around it. Commonly referred to as a hill. It was a very nice hill, with soft grass and lots of butterflies. In fact, it was one of those hills that you look at and just think 'Oh yeah, I am so going to roll down that one'.

_I'm going to have to tell Caeli about this hill. It's a very good rolling-down hill. Although I think I'll have to test it out before I tell her. Just to make sure that I don't direct her to any second-rate hills, of course. Oh, who am I kidding? I know it, Caeli will know it, even the sodding HILL knows that I'm just too childish to resist the summons of a hill, heheh. Not that being childish is a bad thing. It's too big a part of me to renounce it. Plus, I'd be so boring if I stopped being me. And childishness is a big part of me… stop rambling girl!_

Once I reached the top of the hill, I looked around for the pyramid shaped statue marking the top of the hill, forgetting that the elves probably didn't go in for trigonomometrical markers.

_Wait…. The word is NOT trigonomometrical. Um… I think it may be triangulation points or triangulator or something like that. Anyway, I'm positive that it begins with 'tri'. And to be honest, it really doesn't matter._

Instead of a triangulation point statue thingy whatsit, there was a beautiful fountain, which was a statue of a male and a female elf together, and the water came out of their upturned hands. There was a circular pool around the statue where the water collected. The water was crystal clear, unlike many fountains I'd seen back home. I figured that the statues were made of a type of marble, although they didn't have the – well, marbled – effect found in marble. But the colour of the statues was the creamy white colour of marble, so I decided that marble it was.

I scanned the area for the elf that I wanted to see most, and least, in the world. Merenon had told me that he was by the fountain, but there was no one in sight. I sighed, not seeing any evidence of Legolas being there, and sat down on the ground.

"Darn elves… can't ever find them when you need to talk to them… so annoying…" I muttered to myself, irritated by my failure to carry out the simple task of finding Legolas. I scowled at my feet, which were in serious need of nail polish. In my opinion, toes just weren't toes if the nails weren't some nice bright colour.

"Who are you looking for?" inquired a voice from above me. I looked up and – yes, you guessed it – Legolas was standing right in front of me. He extended a hand to me, and I grabbed it, pulling myself up from the ground.

_Oh yeah, that's another reason why he SO doesn't like me that way and he was just drunk. I am so ungraceful and I'm so clumsy and elves are just too graceful and perfect. I mean, why would he really like a girl who can't even get up in that ladylike way that all the female elves around probably perfected a millennium ago._

"I was looking for you. Where did you come from? I couldn't see you anywhere near," I said, and he laughed.

"Perhaps you would have been more successful if you had looked around the other side of the fountain," he suggested. I mentally slapped myself, realised that wouldn't do anything to destroy my dunce cap, then actually slapped myself.

_Yup, add 'stupid' and 'complete idiot' to the list of reasons._

We sat on the edge of the pool, me trying to look dignified and him managing to do so without any effort whatsoever.

"So, did you want to talk about anything in particular, or did you just feel like talking?" he inquired, after I'd sat there for a minute staring into the fountain, trying to decide how to say what I wanted to say.

"Yeah… something particular. Um, do elves remember what they did when they were drunk or not?" I asked.

"We remember things perfectly clearly. The memories may fade from our minds quicker than usual, but if the memories are special then they will stay in an elf's mind as long as any other special memory," he explained.

"Well… you know last night… you said you liked me… um, did you mean it or did you just say it because you were a bit drunk?" I asked hesitantly, staring at my feet. He lifted my chin up so that I was looking at him.

"Ariel, I meant what I said and what I did. Did you?" he asked nervously. My heart leapt. In fact, it jumped up, did a quick bout of the cancan, got out its pompoms and began a cheerleading dance.

_Of course I did you eejit!_

"Yeah I meant it," I said, smiling at him.

"So… you wouldn't mind if I kissed you again?" he inquired, grinning.

"I think I'd be fine with that," I said, also grinning.

Obviously, he kissed me.

A while later, we decided to go down to lunch. Well, we didn't, but Caeli came skipping up the hill and interrupted our conversation, informing us that Bilbo would probably throw a fit if we didn't come down and hear a song that he had written for Lindir to perform after lunch. The thought of the friendly old hobbit with steam coming out of his ears and smoke out of his nose didn't make me very happy, but the matter was decided when my stomach informed me loudly that it was empty. It also informed me that it hadn't had anything except wine for about fifteen hours.

"So, you talked," observed Caeli, noticing that I was holding hands with Legolas.

"Yes, we did. How did you know that Ariel wanted to talk to me?" asked Legolas. I scowled at her, implying that she should not describe my stress of earlier.

"Oh, Ariel was just sulking and I made her tell me why. I can't believe she thought you didn't like her even after last night. I mean, no offence, Legolas, but you're not the best at hiding that you like someone. Subtlety isn't really your middle name, but oh well," Caeli said. I went tomato red, and shoved her.

"Shut UP Caeli! Or would you like me to accidentally let slip to Glorfindel that you like him?" I threatened her, and she subsided under one of my Death Glares Of Doom.

"You're evil!" she sulked. She then got an evil look in her eyes and whispered something in my ear. I didn't hear what she said, but Legolas choked and stared at her in surprise.

"Huh? What was that?" I asked, curious to know what she'd said to provoke that reaction.

"I asked you, is Legolas a good kisser? So that I know whether to go for an elf or not," she repeated in a whisper. This time Legolas spluttered and turned slightly pink.

"Duh, Caeli, to spare Legolas' health, don't ask me that in front of him! Elven hearing, remember?" I said slowly, taking care to pronounce every syllable clearly, to convey the point that she really should have remembered that elves could hear lots of things.

_In fact, they're a bit like bats in human form with pointy ears._

Then I decided to irritate Caeli slightly further.

"But just for the record, the answer is yes. And hands off, get your own elf!" I then turned to Legolas and kissed him.

Caeli coughed.

"Ahem. Ahem! AHEM! I'm hungry, you know!" she complained, glaring at our mushyness.

"I know the best way to get down the hill! I meant to tell you earlier, but anyway, this looks like a very good rolling hill!" I said, and maniacal grins spread themselves across our faces. Legolas looked a bit confused.

"Watch and learn!" said Caeli, and rolled, demonstrating.

"Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!" I shouted, rolling all the way down and coming to an abrupt halt when the hill ran out and the ground suddenly became flat. Unfortunately, Caeli hadn't moved by the time I got down, and so she got a bit squashed. Especially when Legolas fell on top of the two of us. Evidently he'd decided to give the gracefulness a ten minute break and rolled down after us. Poor Caeli was very squashed and she began to complain about how we were squishing her.

"Legolas, it's not that I have any particular aversion to you lying on top of me, but we're both kind of squashed…" I said. A brief spluttering could be heard from both above and below me, then we managed to untangle ourselves. Once we stood up, I noticed that both of them were looking at me oddly.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" I asked, not realising what I'd just said. Caeli started giggling, and once Legolas had wiped his surprised look off his face, he escorted us to lunch.

We were nearly at the dining room when I suddenly realised that the reason why they'd both given me such weird looks was a severe case of foot in mouth syndrome. I stopped in the middle of the hall and exclaimed loudly.

"Oh, bugger!"

**Caeli's POV**

Love.

'Tis a funny thing is it not? Unmeasureable, unprovable and unmistakable all at once. I had been spending quite a lot of time considering the me-Glorfindel situation (or lack of it) I had almost forgotten about the Ariel-Legolas situation. It's true that I knew Ariel really liked Legolas and Legolas really liked Ariel, but it's just kind of weird to think of them together, as a unit. I mean, I still hadn't got over the fact that we were in Middle-earth itself, so seeing (what I believed to be) a fictional character and my best friend strolling hand in hand down a hill together was kinda hard to take in. But, having said all that, I'm happy for them, they're to of a kind and should be together.

Lunch was an interesting experience that day, Legolas and Ariel came in hand in hand. This obviously caused many whispers of speculation down the lunch table. At first they took their places as they usually did and said nothing.

The whispers got louder, some people were saying that they were just friends no more than that and some people (mainly it has to be said the female elves who looked greatly distressed) were telling there friends mournfully that they knew the whole engagement thing was never a lie and that they really were betrothed and that Auntie Doris had told them that Legolas and Ariel were to be married tomorrow, and this lead to full blown conversations over the potential colour of Ariel's wedding dress.

I assume that they were talking in the language that I could understand (whatever that was) to try and get me to confirm or deny the rumours, however I decided it was not for me to announce such things and I kept my mouth shut. At last the whispering had gotten too much for the delicate ears of our elven Prince (I think there was one particular comment that drifted our way however it was in elvish and I didn't understand it, but Legolas turned very pink). He eventually got up and did a kind of annoucementy kinda thing, through which Ariel beamed and her ears went a deep shade of red.

Elrond proposed a toast, and for the rest of lunch, it was as if it were Ariel's birthday all over again. You'd think they really were engaged! They were congratulated and extra alcohol was brought out. I am proud to say I stayed away from most of it, the memories of sleeping on a bookshelf were still just about fresh in my mind (yes I do have one).

The female elves who were previously distressed, now looked dazed and almost suicidal. I know it's mean but I burst out laughing when I saw one elfess's (what is a female elf called anyway?) distinctly blood shot eyes. Glorfindel nudged me.

"I think she can see you laughing," he said quietly, but with a broad grin on his face. I turned my face away from the she elf in question and towards Glorfindel since I was incapable of stopping laughing. I mean its hilarious, they're elves for goodness sake!

"I really think she's crying now," said Glorfindel, in what was almost a sense of wonder. This just caused a fresh fit of giggles and I had to bury my face in Glorfindel's arm to suppress the said giggles. There was a sharp intake of breath from the elfess who happened (or so I had thought) to be sitting opposite Glorfindel at the time. She looked at me in horror and stormed out of the room.

"What did I do?" I asked Glorfindel, totally stunned.

"I have no idea," replied Glorfindel who looked equally surprised. _Ok, that was weird, all I did was laugh…_

The lunch ended with much too much wine consumed by far too many people (including Ariel). I went off in search of fresh air while most people were still celebrating. I went to sit in my favourite little spot by the river (it was incidentally, just below the branch I had once fallen off into the river).

I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air. There is nothing like Rivendell air, it's fresh, non-polluted and beautiful. I picked up a pebble from next to me and threw it in the river and watched as little ripples spread out in circles round it. Suddenly I noticed someone was behind me. I looked round quickly. It was Glorfindel, of course.

"I thought you might be here," he said.

"Do you always have to turn so, so-"

"Quietly?" he suggested.

"Yes,"

"Sorry, it is not in my nature to make great amounts of noise wherever I go, I'll leave that to the dwarves," I looked despairingly at him.

"I wish elves and dwarves could just sort of... get along better, more interracial harmony, you know?" I said

"I never said I disliked the dwarves, but you have to admit they make a lot of noise," he commented.

"Well, yeah I suppose," I agreed hesitantly "but there are still so many elves who can't stand the sight of dwarves, I don't understand it,"

"I think our two different races just weren't meant to be together, we are very different."

"You can say that again. But I still think that you could get along better despite your differences." I said cheerfully looking up at him.

"Why are you so reluctant to give in and accept what's been this way for thousands of years?" asked Glorfindel. I laughed.

"Well, I'm not thousands of years old so I still have the stupid idea that the world would be a better place if everyone made an effort o get along, if people celebrated their differences instead of fighting over them."

"How do you mean?" he asked, and finally sat down next to me _thank god I thought my neck would get stuck if I had to look up for one second longer_

"Well, look at you and me, you have pointy ears which I am dead envious of," Glorfindel laughed and felt his ears as if he'd hardly noticed their shape before "but I don't decide that I'm going to hate you for the rest of my days just because of that, I admire your ears!"

"Usually ears are the last thing the children of the Edain are envious of us for,"

"Really? What's the first thing?" I asked.

"I'm sure you can guess." he replied.

"Erm… I suppose I'd like the general beauty and grace of all you guys, but that probably just cause I'm a teenager."

"It's not beauty and grace either. Can you really not guess?" he looked surprised.

"Nope, I am not blessed with an abundance of brain cells thus I cannot think particularly efficiently, what is it?"

"Immortality." said Glorfindel simply. I kicked myself. _Idiot! You really should swap titles with Ariel-of-half-a-brain-cell, after all recent events - such as getting herself an elf - suggest that she might even have a whole brain cell… make that three-quarters._

"Of course!" I said feeling stupid. "But I wouldn't want to be immortal." At this point Glorfindel looked at me as if I had just landed on the patch of grass next to him from out of space (which I suppose I had in a manner of speaking).

"You wouldn't?" asked Glorfindel looking shocked.

"Don't faint, but no."

"But-" Glorfindel started but never finished because Merenon came up behind us.

"Caeli?" he asked.

"Hey Merenon, how are you upon this fine day?" I asked him.

"Very well thank you!" he answered. "Lord Elrond sent me, he wishes you to meet with him in his study."

"Oh, do you know why?" I asked Merenon.

"I am afraid I am as ignorant as you are on this matter."

"What would you recommend in terms of protective clothing, a helmet, some chain mail perhaps?" we all laughed.

"I am afraid there would be nothing to fit you, but as you seem to be convinced you're in trouble, I would recommend a good sense of when to duck as the best protection." he answered. I smiled nervously.

"Thanks." I dragged Glorfindel up with me and set off towards Elrond's study.

"Elrond never said he wanted to see me as well!" Glorfindel protested.

"But I want you to come with me!" I argued back and continued to drag him by the hand up the slope to Elrond's study.

"He'll just end up kicking me out," he said.

"An elf like you? When was the last time you were kicked out of anywhere?" I asked surprised.

"Umm, a few days ago? A young girl looking surprisingly like yourself kicked me out of her room,"

"I don't count," I said quickly.

"Ok, ok, not many people have kicked me out of many places but I generally-" we had arrived, I opened the giant doors and using a move that I had practised to perfection whilst getting Legolas to wake up Ariel in the morning, I shoved Glorfindel inside and then followed him in.

"Greetings Glorfindel, I'm sure I asked Merenon to-"

"I asked Glorfindel to come," I said holding onto Glorfindel like a protective shield.

"Do you think you're in trouble again?" asked Elrond who seemed to find the whole situation highly amusing.

"Of course not I just…" _one day I am SO going to make a list of who can and can't mind-read! _"Well, yes ok I kinda thought I might…"

"You're not so don't worry," he said.

"Oh," I loosened my grip on Glorfindel a bit but didn't let go.

"I wanted to asked you about Ariel's parents." Elrond stated.

"Ariel's parents?" I asked surprised, not quite sure I had heard him properly.

"Yes," he confirmed, I still felt mystified. "In your opinion, would they give their consent to Ariel's new relationship with Legolas?" _Oh! So this was what it was all about, parental consent gets in the way wherever you go – school trips, medication, and now even new boyfriends…_

"You know she's not getting engaged…" I said slowly.

"Is it not customary in your world to seek parental approval before new relationships are started?"

"Well no, not really, I mean in practise you'd tell your parents, but I mean this is a totally different situation, we're not living with our parents…" I drifted off and tried not to think of my parents and my home. I looked silently at my feet.

"I am sorry, the question was most insensitive of me." Elrond said quietly. He paused for awhile before asking: "what do you think?"

"About Ariel and Legolas?"

"Yes,"

"Well I'm really happy for them, obviously." I said.

"You have no reservations at all?" questioned Elrond. I sighed.

"Well, Legolas is immortal and Ariel is very much mortal and so that is obviously a possible problem but I don't see why it couldn't work-" I looked down at my feet again.

"I would agree that Legolas being of elven kindred and Ariel not would defiantly cause a problem," said Elrond. _Umm, that's not what I said…_

"Elrond, this is not the Lady Arwen and Aragorn we are discussing here, it is a different situation," said Glorfindel suddenly.

"It has the same problems." stated Elrond.

"There are precedents for this that have worked out well, of course most notably the case of Beren and-"

"Ariel is but sixteen years of age, that is why I am concerned Glorfindel, I do not know if she realises her situation-"

"She does, she has read the books you know! She knows elves are immortal and she loved Legolas before she arrived here-" I protested.

"That is not possible-" interrupted Elrond.

"Yes it is!" I said cutting him off "Look, they love each other what more do you want? Are you guys so against that? I don't understand you, you're just so, so…" eventually I gave up try to explain this race that were supposed to be the wisest and yet were so… UNREASONABLE! "Sorry, I have to go" and with that having been said I walked out of the study.

I walked back in the vague direction of my room, and of course it wasn't long before I was stopped by the voice of Glorfindel.

_Oops, me equals in trouble..._

I turned around and glared at Glorfindel.

"Won't a certain hobbit be feeling like murdering you right now for not turning up to his song performance?" Glorfindel said. _Ok… storming out of study has obviously already been forgotten…_

"Oh, yes of course, I forgot! Are you coming?"

"If you stop looking so cross and give me a hug, yes I will be joining you."

"Do you take back everything you said about Ariel being unsuitable for Legolas just because he's an elf." I said.

"If you recall I didn't actually say anything of the sort." Glorfindel replied.

_Stupid Caeli!_

"Oh, you didn't?"

"No,"

"Oh, well in that case…" I ran up to him and gave him a very big hug and he squeezed me back. "You're forgiven for doing something you never did, now we better go and hear Bilbo's song!"

This took ages didn't it? Sorry! We had some technical difficulties involving the transfer of data (i.e. our email thing was misbehaving). Assuming it doesn't happen again we should be updating more regularly.


	17. Chapter 17

Tin's pot plant: My, what a happy group of elves I see before me!

Elrond and co/scowl/

Tin's pot plant: Wands away!

Tin: Just cause I was rereading the Harry Potter books doesn't mean YOU have to quote them to death!

Ala: Yeah, and it couldn't even be bothered to look in the book to get the quote right, either!

Tin/shuffles feet/ Well, actually, um, I'm writing this so it's actually me that can't be bothered to look through about a thousand pages just to find one line…

Ala/shrieks/ FOUL BLOOD TRAITOR!

Fell beast: Okaaaaay….. /hugs teddy bear/

Ghost of Tolkien: Woooooooooooooooooooooooo…… Wooooooooooooooooooooooo….

Fell beast: I said it once, I'll say it again: Okaaaaay….

Elrond: Tin, would you please stop mutilating our personalities?

Tin/thinks/ Nah… Ooh, I just had a thought!

Ala: Did it hurt?

Tin: Yeah, I'm a bit out of practise… anyway, let's get Tolkien's Ghost to do his own disclaimer! At least then he'd stop with the woooooooooing!

Ghost of Tolkien: Wooooooooooo…. Anything WOOOOO to stop you destroying WOOOOOOO my characters…

Tin: Yeah, get on with it then. Is the WOOOOOOO a verbal tic/Ala looks confused/ nah, I don't know what that is either, but it sounds cool.

Ghost of Tolkien: I own it all except Ariel, Caeli, Ala, Tin, and that infernal Pot Plant.

**Chapter 17**

**Ariel POV**

After lunch, I had an archery lesson. Well, I tried to have an archery lesson, but I didn't get all that much archery done. You see, when your boyfriend is your teacher, he gets this habit of kissing you whenever you manage to shoot the arrow in vaguely the right direction. And seeing as I was getting better at archery, I got quite a lot of kisses.

Anyway, after the very enjoyable archery lesson (I never thought I'd enjoy learning how to kill things, but that day I did), we had supper. I'd noticed it at lunch time, and I noticed it again all through dinner: practically the whole female population of Rivendell was glaring at me. If looks could kill, I would've been six feet – make that twelve feet – under.

"Caeli, why are they all glaring at me? What've I done?" I whimpered after enduring five minutes of cold, angry glares.

"You've stolen their beloved prince, so they're angry with you for that. In fact, I actually saw three of them crying earlier. Amazingly pathetic, really," said Caeli. I stared at her for a moment then burst into laughter.

"Yup, definitely pathetic. But still, I hope they get over themselves soon. I don't really want to have to ask Elrond for a bodyguard," I commented.

"I am sure that will not be necessary, Ariel. Besides, they know that if they tried to hurt you, they would have to answer to me," said Legolas, defensively. I smiled and leaned sideways onto his arm.

After dinner, me and Legolas were sitting outside on a bench, looking up at the stars.

"Legolas, which star is Earendil?" I asked, and he pointed. I looked up at Elrond's father, and thought that the constellations of the stars looked similar to the ones that I sometimes saw in England.

"You know, if I knew anything about astronomy, I'd tell you that the stars look pretty much the same here as back home. But I don't, so I can't really comment," I said quietly. I sighed, and hugged my knees. Legolas looked at me concernedly.

"Ariel, is something wrong? Do you miss your home?" he asked worriedly.

"In a way. I think I miss the people I was close to, and I miss the technology, and I definitely miss being able to walk around in a tank top and shorts. But then, you're here, and I love the peacefulness here, and I love knowing that people aren't destroying the world and creating weapons that will destroy the world if they're used. Oh yeah, knowing that the polar ice caps aren't about to melt and flood the world in five years time is good. And everyone here is so lucky because they just don't know about things." Legolas stared at me for a moment, shocked. I began to wonder what the problem was.

"What do you mean, destroying the world? What are polar ice caps? And Sauron has not got these weapons you mention, does he?" he finally asked.

"They're all linked. The world is getting destroyed because humans are destroying natural habitats, using up fossil fuels, and using technology that does bad things to the world. Polar ice caps are at the north and south of the world, and they're gonna melt and raise sea levels by seven metres – I guess that's about nine yards – in five years time. No, Sauron doesn't have nuclear weapons, but I have to say that what he does have is perfectly effective enough." I hated having to explain to a nature-loving elf that humans weren't even smart enough to control their destruction. Legolas gaped for a while, then resumed questions.

"What did you mean, when you said that we're lucky because we don't know things?" he asked.

_Hmm. How to explain science to someone who won't understand it?_

"It's hard to explain. Basically, people are obsessed with finding out everything about the world. It kind of takes the good out of everything if you understand it. I mean, why do I need to know what the sun is made of? If I didn't know the sciencey facts about the sun, I could get up in the morning and look out my window and think, 'wow, God really did a good job when he made that' but instead I get up in the morning, look out my window and think, 'what's the big deal? It's just a load of burning hydrogen'. And I would have been quite happy contemplating whether or not the moon was made out of green cheese, but no, people have walked on the moon and confirmed that no, it is not made of cheese." Legolas laughed at the green cheese part.

"Well, I have no idea where you came up with the idea of the moon being made of green cheese, but I see your point. Have people really walked on the moon?" he asked, fascinated by the idea of standing on the moon.

"Yeah. Do you think that the star of Earendil is still there?" I said, wondering if it had already burned out and the light was still travelling because of how far away it was. Legolas looked at me oddly.

"Of course it is, you can see it there," he said, pointing. He looked as if he was fighting the urge to add 'duh' to the sentence.

"Yeah but… forget it. It's not a big deal," I said, sighing. I leant on him and closed my eyes, thinking of home.

I imagined being back home, in my bedroom, sitting on my bed writing fan fiction on my laptop. Just as usual, I was in my comfy pyjamas, I had my lamp on, and my hot water bottle and teddy bear were snuggled up against me. A bar of chocolate and a crisp sandwich was on the bedside table on my right, and a glass of orange juice was positioned on the chair on my left. The peach coloured walls and the purple bookcase radiated a warm glow around the room, and I relaxed back into my pillows. Somehow, though, something didn't seem right. Something was missing. I scanned the room to see what was missing, and my gaze landed on a few specific things. Namely, everything to do with Lord of the Rings, even including the plastic cup with the holographic characters that had come free with pick'n'mix sweets from Woolworths.

I opened my eyes, and looked up at Legolas. I sat up and smiled at him relaxedly.

"What?" he asked, noticing my sudden change in mood.

"Oh, I just realised how happy I am here," I said quietly, closing my eyes and leaning back against him.

The morning after I realised that I didn't want to go back to England for a long time, I was woken up by the usual method: Caeli throwing a pillow at me. I threw it straight back at her.

"Ouch! I hate you!" she squealed, hitting me again and again with the darn pillow. I grabbed it and buried my head in it.

"Ariel, Arwen wants to talk to you. So get up!" I sat up confusedly, looking at Caeli through bleary eyes. Caeli was standing next to my bed, waving a dress in front of me. I absentmindedly put it on, brushed my hair, and glared at my reflection.

_So, let me get this straight. God not only decides that I need a change of scenery so he sends me into a story, and I'm living with a bunch of elves, but he decides to give me bed head as well? No fair!_

Once I was dressed, Caeli told me to go to a particular garden. I tried to drag her with me, but she wouldn't come, saying that it was me that Arwen wanted to talk to and she wasn't going to butt in. I made a face at her, then left to go and find Arwen. I poked my head around a gate into a garden, and saw her sitting on the grass. I approached cautiously.

_Ok, I have NO idea why I'm here. Let's hope I haven't done anything wrong… oh face it Ariel, the word 'behave' is not in your vocabulary. Ok, so lets rephrase this: let's hope I haven't done anything worthy of being drop-kicked out of Rivendell._

"Hello Ariel," Arwen said, smiling at me.

"Um, hi," I said. She gestured for me to sit down next to her and I did so awkwardly. I still hadn't gotten used to wearing a floor-length dress. After a moment, she started the conversation.

"So, I hear that you are courting Prince Legolas," she commented.

_Aha, so that's what this is about. A conversation about my boyfriend. Although that expression just doesn't really seem to fit._

"Yeah," I said. I had no idea what I was supposed to say. We sat there in silence for a while, and the thought struck me that Arwen had absolutely no idea what to say to me, either. Which was surprising, seeing as all the times I'd seen her, she was talking non-stop to someone. On the other hand, so was I, so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.

I decided to break the silence. Unfortunately, I had no idea what to say to break it. I couldn't exactly ask her what her favourite colour of nail polish was, seeing as elves didn't have nail polish.

"Ariel, may I ask what that is on your nails?" she asked.

_Ha! As soon as I think about my nail polish, she asks me about it! Ok, that's quite funny really. Also kind of freaky._

"Whoa, can you read minds? Because I was just thinking about that. It's nail polish. It probably looks really weird to you but I kind of like it," I said.

"No, I am not able to see others' thoughts. Actually, I think your nail polish is quite nice, really. It suits you," she said. I grinned at her.

"Thanks. I only wear it because my nails aren't very nice and so it covers them up," I confessed. We both laughed, and fell into silence again, but this time it wasn't as uncomfortable.

I picked a couple of daisies from the grass and began threading them together to make a chain.

"Do elves ever make daisy chains? Or is that just a human habit?" I asked curiously.

"I believe most elves make daisy chains at some point in their lives. I used to run around with them in my hair," she told me.

"I used to wear them as necklaces. Well, I used to wear them as bracelets as well, but those always broke. Me and my friends always used to try and make the longest daisy chain in the whole world," I said, smiling at the memory of sitting in the school field at playtime with my friends, trying to break the world record for the longest daisy chain.

After a while of sitting on the grass making a daisy chain, Arwen seemed to remember that she'd wanted to talk to me about something.

"Ariel, there was something I wanted to talk to you about," she said cautiously.

"Ok, I'm all ears," I said. She looked curiously at me for a minute, then evidently translated what I'd said into 'I'm listening'.

"Well, there is something I want to ask you about your relationship with Legolas," she said.

_This could be interesting. Well, at least she's not a member of my hate club._

I made a sort of curious, non-committal noise.

"Ariel, I know that your parents are not here, but do you think that they would approve of your relationship with Legolas?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think they'd be happy," I said, thinking about it. Arwen looked relieved.

_Ok, so my mum would sit me down and give me the whole 'don't get pregnant' talk, and my dad would probably try to kill Legolas, but hey, minor details…_

"You are lucky then. My father will not allow me to get married until my betrothed takes the throne that he is heir to," Arwen said wistfully.

"That sucks… but my magical powers of clairvoyantness tell me that you and Lord Aragorn will be married within a year," I said. Arwen stared at me.

"How did you know that his name is Aragorn? Father told me that you and Caeli are not from Middle-earth, but when did you find that out? And what on Arda is clairvoyantness?" she asked, puzzled.

_Oh yippee, I believe this is what is generally known as foot in mouth syndrome._

"Clairvoyantness… uh, I made the word up, but a clairvoyant is someone who can see the future. And, um, this is going to sound, well, strange, but where we come from, Middle-earth is a story. And you're a character in it," I said, staring at the ground.

_The more people that know, the more people we can be ourselves around. But on the other hand, the more people we tell, the more people potentially think we're crazy. Ah well._

Arwen stared at me for a couple of minutes. Which I could understand, because it's not everyday that someone tells you that you're a storybook character.

"It must be strange talking to people you used to think were made up," she said finally. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"It sure is. Especially seeing the sides to people that just don't show through in the books. I mean, I'd never have imagined Elrond helping me to play a joke on Caeli. Or Glorfindel getting drunk, actually," I said. Arwen laughed.

"That must have been amusing. Anyway, if you know about me and Aragorn, I suppose I do not need to explain that I support Legolas courting you," she said.

"Thanks," I said. "Nice to know there's two females in this place who aren't going to try and murder me." Arwen laughed.

"Do not worry, I have no intentions of murdering you for loving Legolas," she grinned.

_Whoa… what is it with everyone here and going on about love? I mean, it's not that I don't like the idea of love, but I'm only sixteen. That's way too young to fall in love. Not forever-love, anyway. I guess people in Middle-earth just grow up faster than people back home. Actually, now that I think about it, if I'd grown up here, I'd probably be married with three kids by now._

We spent a while just talking about nothing in particular, and Arwen gave me some advice about ignoring people who had a problem with me being a mortal, which made me feel better, because to be honest, it had been something I was a bit worried about.

"Ariel, if anyone says to you that you should not be with Legolas because you are human, or because you are younger than Legolas, ignore them. Love does not depend on the number of years that you have and will live, love is here and now," she said. I tilted my head, thinking about what she'd said.

_I have to admit, elves are really good at these philosophical speechy things. And making you feel good about what you've chosen to do, actually._

Our peaceful little conversation was interrupted by a loudly squealing Caeli being chased by Glorfindel, who had a great big grin on his face. They sprinted past me and Arwen, Caeli waving at me over her shoulder, and quickly ran out of sight. I raised my eyebrows and looked at Arwen. The two of us started laughing at the obvious chemistry between Caeli and Glorfindel.

_Those two idiots are so in love its funny. Whoa… there I go with the whole love thing… freaky. Oh well, maybe they all know what they're talking about. Who knows, and quite literally, who cares? I'm perfectly happy how I am: dim and proud of it!_

**Caeli's POV**

"Show me it!"

"Nope!"

"Caeli…"

"No way!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"You don't really want to destroy it do you?"

"Yes I… well…" I clutched the ID tag out of Glorfindel's reach. I had found it in my pack, I had been looking for my whistle (an essential for every safe camper, as of course Ariel and I were /coughs/) to try and demonstrate to Glorfindel how modern whistles were so much better than horns for attracting attention. A little ID tag had been attached to the whistle with a photo of me. I would have found it fine for Glorfindel to see a recent photo of me be the picture on my ID tag was from when I was about four years old and I was pulling a ridiculous face.

Ariel had for some reason (god knows why but she is a strange girl at times) exchanged the normal recent picture that I was supposed to have on the tag for this really old one. Glorfindel was very curious to see what I looked like at four years old and had spent the last fifteen minuets chasing me round the gardens to snatch it of me.

In a moment of pure inspiration I decided the best way to get rid of it was in the river and I was now standing by the bank holding the picture above the river.

"What harm could it do to show me?" Glorfindel asked folding his arms in almost teenager like attitude (he must have been VERY late in growing up).

"It's embarrassing!"

"You were four, I'm sure what ever you look like in the painting, I mean photgra- erm, picture is no reflection on the lovely young lady before me now,"

"Flattery is not going to work!" _well, it might if you keep it up for a while longer…_

"Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised!"

"Compromise?" he suggested.

"Can I have more pink fish?" I said automatically.

"It will probably mean I'll get mall nourished, but yes, please let me see it, the curiosity is killing me as you would say,"

"You are an elf Glorfindel, you can only die of battle wounds or a broken heart."

"I might die of a broken heart if I think that you don't trust me enough to see a picture of you!"

"Don't be silly!" I said sternly.

"I'm not!" protested Glorfindel "Do we have a deal on another lot of my pink fish for a week?"

"Hmm, if you a agree to a pop quiz on yourself,"

"Caeli, you know I understand very little of what you say…"

"I get to ask you lots and lots of quick one word answer questions on yourself,"

"Let me think about that…"

"My arm is getting very tired!"

"Ok, if I can ask the same questions about you, I agree."

"Deal, here's the photo, don't laugh!" I slowly and reluctantly handed him the photo and then covered my face in shame. Glorfindel examined the picture for a while and then laughed.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I don't laugh in a mockery, it is a nice picture, you like a happy child." he said.

"Well, I didn't exactly have one of those deep dark depressing childhoods," I said smiling. "Now you have to keep your side of the bargain," I sat down and patted the grass opposite me "sit." I said.

"I feel like I am a century old all over again,"

"Tough," I said grinning.

"Ok, you can ask me a question but then I get to ask you one ok?" he asked.

"Fair enough, umm, did you have a happy childhood?"

"Well,"

"Answer instinctively, that's the point of it," I explained.

"Yes, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, do you believe in God?"

"Yes, do you?"

"No, rivers or mountains?"

"You mean which do I prefer?" he asked.

"Yes,"

"Mountains, morning or evening?"

"Evening, sword or bow?" I asked.

"Sword, white or black?"

"White, blue or pink?"

"Blue, dark blue"

"One word!" I reminded.

"Ok, ok, trees or hobbit holes?"

"Hobbit holes, rain or sun?"

"Sun, art or music?"

"Music, do balrogs have wings?"

"What?"

"One word- oh… it was a yes or no question!"

"I thought the questions were supposed to be about me not balrogs!"

"It is about you, you are one of the best people alive to answer the question,"

"But it's about balrogs, not me!"

"Please?"

"Ok, almost,"

"That's not an answer!"

"It's one word, now, fruit or vegetables?" Glorfindel continued.

"Fruit, Eru or Iluvatar?"

"Iluvatar, Varda or Elbereth?" he said.

"Elbereth, do you think you'll get married one day?"

"Yes, would you want a girl or a boy,"

"A girl, blondes or brunettes?"

"Brunettes of course, elves or men?" I asked, excusing the use of more than one word for just this once…

"Elves! Breakfast in bed or breakfast in the hall,"

"In bed definitely-"

"I_n bed?_ Tell me I heard the wrong part of that conversation," said Ariel who seemed to have come out of thin air, even Glorfindel looked surprised to see her.

"You heard the wrong part of that conversation," we both said in unison.

"Ok…" she said looking suspiciously at me. "Have you guys seen Legolas anywhere?"

"I'm afraid I haven't," said Glorfindel.

"I saw him walking arm in arm with a very beautiful elf just a few minuets ago." I said in an innocent tone of voice.

"Caeli!" Ariel and Glorfindel said at once.

"Joking! Joking! Calm down, honestly…" Ariel just scowled at me.

"So I take it you haven't seen him," she asked, throwing in a complementary death-stare-of-doom look in my direction.

"Nope," I answered, "How's the archery lessons going by the way?"

"Very well thank you for asking," she said smiling _yeah, like you get much archery done the innocent looks don't fool me_ "how's the sword fighting lessons going?" she asked.

"Glorfindel says I'm appalling," I answered happily.

"I never said that, you just don't have natural ability at it," said Glorfindel.

"Which means the same thing but in elf talk." I added

"Exactly Caeli dear, in other words, you have no hope of winning a fight against an ant any time in the near future," said Ariel, such a lovely girl really.

"I don't know about that, you managed to hurt me quite badly the other day," said a voice from behind me. I turned round to see who it was, it was Gelon, Merenon's brother.

"What did she do to you?" asked Ariel looking intrigued. _Please ground swallow me up, or alternatively you are welcome to swallow Ariel, your choice really, whoever tastes better _

"She was using a very… original way of using her sword involving-" Gelon began to explain.

"Well, we wouldn't want to put ideas into Ariel's head, you don't really need to tell her," I said.

"Shut up Caeli, do go on Gelon," Ariel said dismissively.

"Well she was-" Gelon started again.

"I'll give you money not to tell her!"

"Do you actually have any money?" Gelon asked surprised.

"No, but that's beside the point,"

"Well then-" he said.

"No!" I protested.

"Caeli dropped her sword on Gelon's foot." Glorfindel said.

"No! You're horrible!" I said folding my arms crossly.

"You dropped your sword? You've been using it for this long and you dropped it?" Ariel said before promptly collapsing into a fit of giggles.

"You are just so evil!" told Glorfindel, or rather shouted at Glorfindel.

"Caeli," he said taking both my hands in his "I am very sorry, please forgive me," It was very obvious he was trying not to laugh but he still looked so sweet…

"Do you promise not tell any one else?" I said still trying to look cross.

"I solemnly swear I will not tell anyone else," he said, still trying not to laugh.

"Ok, you're forgiven," I said at last.

"Well, we should be going to lunch then," said Gelon.

"Yay! I can tell everyone else you dropped your sword!" said Ariel gleefully before running off.

"Please go and tell her not to Gelon!" I begged.

"Ok, I shall do my best to persuade her." he said and set off at a rather more dignified pace than Ariel.

"You know maybe lunch today isn't such a good idea, I might just stay here, with the river and the lovely flowers and-"

"No, you are going to eat lunch," said Glorfindel decisively and dragged me off.

"But-"

"No buts," he said. I thought for a while, trying to think of a reason not to go and be laughed at by the entire community of Rivendell for managing to drop my sword _just cause they're elves and aren't clumsy…_

"Ok, I'll go, but I what to ask you one more one word answer question first," I said.

"Ok, go ahead"

"If I went back to my home right now, would you miss me?"

"Very much so," he answered. Again I decided mutli-worded answers are sometimes better than one word.

Hi again :D we're happy cause it's half term now! A whole morning-free week! (ok, that's just my opinion (Tin)) and a whole week without maths! (yeah, we're both happy about that). Anyways, hope you liked it:D :D :D


	18. Chapter 18

Frodo: Well, hi everyone, and before we start the chapter I would like to inform you of certain important things…

Ala/pops out of nowhere/ Guys, he means the disclaimer. And Frodo, serious and disclaimers don't mix.

Frodo: Oh…

Tin: Now that that's sorted out, let's get onto the purpose of this little malarkey.

Ala/groans/ Not you as well… stop with the long words! When did you learn those anyway?

Sam: She read Bilbo's dictionary cos she was bored. /Tin whaps Sam/

Tin: SAM! That's a secret! And for your information, it was the thesaurus! Not the dictionary!

Nazgul's Teddy Bear: Honestly… you people… sitting at home reading the dictionary when there are Nazgul to hug… stupid…

Tin and Ala: GOOD IDEA/zoom over to Witch-King/

Witch-King/spots Tin and Ala zooming towards him/ What the…. /Tin and Ala hug him/

Tin and Ala/pull away from Witch-King/ Ew, Nazgul germs!

Witch-King/sobs/ I never get a proper hug… if I do the disclaimer can I have a biiiig hug/Tin and Ala nod/ Ok people. Tin and Ala no own, so you no sue. Got it?

Tin/mutters/ even I have a better grasp of grammar… /Ala smirks/

**Chapter 18!**

**Ariel POV**

A couple of weeks later, on the 8th August, I was walking up to a beautiful fountain that I'd found, hand in hand with Legolas (me, not the fountain) when we came across a sight that I didn't want to be there. Caeli was sitting by the fountain wrapped in a Glorfindel-hug, crying her eyes out. Let me explain: Caeli and Glorfindel weren't the unpleasant sight, I just didn't want her to be upset over anything.

_What? Why is Caeli crying? Caeli never cries!_

I ran over to where she was sitting and asked her what was wrong. She was too busy sobbing to notice that I'd asked her a question, so I repeated it to Glorfindel. Apparently he had no idea, as he'd been on his way to their sword practice when she ran up to him and started bawling.

"Caeli, what's wrong? Tell me," I urged her, and she finally looked up at me.

"Not here. I'll tell you when we're alone," she said, sniffing. I took that as my cue to extract her from Glorfindel's arms and lead her off so she could have some privacy. When we'd found a nice little clearing, I sat her down on the grass.

This is seriously scaring me… I don't think I've ever seen Caeli cry before. Never ever. Not once. 

"Caeli, tell me what's wrong," I said, hugging her.

"Everything's wrong!" she sobbed. "I miss everything about home and the people there and the only thing that I like here is Glorfindel and he'll never like me back and now you've got Legolas and we're all on our own and we don't have any of our friends and we don't know if we'll ever see anyone we know again!" she stopped, having run out of breath.

"I miss home too, but I'll tell you this for certain: Glorfindel has a massive crush on you. So you don't need to worry about that," I said, trying to comfort her. She looked at me, raising her eyebrows.

"Come off it, Glorfindel doesn't like me that way. And why would someone who's a couple of thousand years older than me like me? And we're not even the same species! I mean, it's stupid to think it's even possible," she said, sniffing. I had to restrain myself from glaring at her. I couldn't quite manage that, but I reduced the glare down to a scowl.

_You know, Caeli, I could take that as an insult… I mean, I happen to be going out with an elf who's a couple of thousand years older than me!_

"Thanks very much," I commented. Caeli looked up.

"Oh, I'm really sorry! I totally forgot about you and Legolas," she apologised.

_Yeah, the fact that you forgot really boosts my self-esteem, Caeli._

I bit my lip to stop myself from making any bitchy comments which wanted to spring out. I admit it, it wasn't nice of me to want to say the said bitchy comments seeing as she was upset, but that didn't mean I didn't want to say them.

"Ariel, why are we here? Is there actually a point to us being in Middle-earth instead of staying at home? Or are we just some huge massive mistake and shouldn't be here? I just don't understand what we're doing here," she whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

_Good question. And I have no idea why we're here._

"I don't know why we're here either, but while we are we might as well enjoy ourselves. I mean, how often do you get to live a story book? We're not mistakes, so don't think that. And at least most of the female population of Rivendell don't hate you," I said, trying to squash my own feelings of being a mistake.

_Ok, so I admit it. There's probably absolutely no reason for us being here. Maybe God got pissed off at Zeus for lightening-bolting us so he sent us here to irritate Zeus. _

"Ariel, can you get my cd player? I want to meditate with some music," Caeli asked me once she'd stopped crying. I agreed and went to get the cd player.

Ten minutes later, after locating the cd player and carrying it back to the clearing, I dropped it and stared at Caeli. She'd gone into a weird meditative trance, with her eyes closed, her legs folded and her hands on her knees.

"Caeli, I've got the cd player," I said uncertainly. She didn't reply.

"Caeli?" I asked, waving my hand in front of her face. Again, she didn't say anything. I tapped her shoulder, then shook her gently after she didn't move.

_Whoa… this is scaring me… first Caeli cries, then she meditates, then she ignores me… odd day today_

I quietly walked to the edge of the clearing, then snuck up on her and shouted "BOO" in her ear. She didn't even twitch.

_Ok, let's have a summary: I'm in the past, in a story, whatever. Most of the female population of Rivendell hate me. I don't know whether or not I miss home anymore. My best friend just spent half an hour crying which I've never seen her do before. And now, the aforementioned best friend has gone and stuck herself in a trance. So, I don't think I'm doing too well right now. FINE! EVERYTHING SUCKS! And just for the record, Caeli is really scaring me! Because I may not be a qualified doctor/psychiatrist/straitjacket/whatever, I do know that having a breakdown is bad for you. It really doesn't take a genius to figure that one out._

"Caeli, you're scaring me! Talk to me!" I begged, distraught at the fact that the one person who knew what my home/world/time was like was suffering some kind of breakdown. When she didn't answer, I did the only thing that I could think of to do.

"Glorfindel!" I screeched, hoping that the super-hearing of elves was still working. It was. Glorfindel came running, closely followed by Legolas. I pointed at Caeli, and started sobbing about how my best friend was in a vegetable state and how I didn't want her to die. Obviously, seeing as I was beginning to get a wee bit hysterical, what I was saying wasn't making much sense. Glorfindel and Legolas exchanged confused, worried looks.

"What happened, Ariel?" asked Legolas once I'd calmed down a bit.

"She misses home and she was crying and she never does that and then I went to get the cd player and when I came back she was like this. And now she won't talk or move or anything…" I told them. Glorfindel walked over to Caeli and knelt down in front of her.

"Caeli?" he said quietly. She didn't respond.

"Caeli, you have to talk to me. Open your eyes Caeli," Glorfindel asked her. It had absolutely no effect. I turned to Legolas and hugged him, starting to cry again.

_My best friend is having some kind of breakdown and I can't do anything about it!_

"Please Caeli, you're scaring Ariel," Glorfindel said. Legolas tried to comfort me, whispering in my ear that Caeli was going to be fine because she had to be, because Glorfindel loved her.

After a few minutes of Glorfindel trying to coax Caeli into coming out of her trance, she still hadn't moved. By this time, I was convinced that something horrible was going to happen to Caeli, like never waking up or something. To be honest, I wasn't too sure of the details, I was just sure that something bad was going to happen. I guess that often happens when a person is scared for their best friend. But then again, my best friend had never done this before, so I wouldn't have known.

Legolas whispered something in my ear, and I looked at him, contemplating what he'd just said. After a moment's thought, I agreed with him.

"Glorfindel, we have a suggestion for how to get Caeli to wake up," said Legolas. Glorfindel looked at us.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Well, I know that you love Caeli," Legolas started.

"And I know that Caeli loves you," I continued.

"So maybe if you kissed her she'd wake up," Legolas finished. Glorfindel blushed.

_Aww, a blushing elf. So sweet!_

After a moment of hesitation, Glorfindel turned back to Caeli. He whispered something to her which I couldn't hear, but which caused Legolas to grin and make an 'aww' face. I made a mental note to ask him what Glorfindel had said.

After Glorfindel started kissing Caeli, me and Legolas snuck away so that they could make out in private. Of course, that had the added benefit of us being able to make out in private, too.

**Caeli's POV**

They say when you die your whole life will flash before your eyes so naturally I assumed that was what was happening to me when Rivendell blacked out and was replaced by flashing images in mind. My house, parents, my little dog, then a view down the path I take from school. From there I seemed to fly straight to my school where I had a bird's eye view, I could see through a window into my classroom, just make out my desk. I could hear screams and laughter coming from the playground and I could smell the scent of white chocolate chip cookies from our canteen. All of a sudden I saw Ariel and I burst round the corner towards the canteen building and almost crash into a teacher. The teacher stopped us both and began talking to Ariel, this soon escalated into a shouting match between the pair, after which Ariel grumpily took off her beloved coat. The teacher walked off and as soon as she was round the corner Ariel put the coat back on again and we both burst out laughing and continued on our way to the canteen.

Then suddenly the scene changed and I was snuggled at the top of a tree watching the sun go down. I heard faint voices but the me in the scene in front of me didn't seem to notice. I tried to turn around but all I could see was the sunset. Then I was sure I could feel gentle arms round me. I recognised the touch… Glorfindel? I felt him get nearer to me and I could smell the calming scent that always seemed to hang around him, but all I could see was the sunset, and me sitting on a tree, now silhouetted against it. Then confirmation of the dream state I was in came when I felt him kiss me.

All of a sudden I was plummeted back to (Middle-)earth and the vision of the sunset was replaced by blackness. I felt the hard ground beneath me and the cold marble of the fountain pressing against my back, but I could still feel his lips on mine. I jerked back in shock and hit my head against the fountain. My eyes opened and I could see properly again. For a moment I saw Glorfindel's clear blue eyes in front of mine with his golden hair round his head almost like a golden glowing halo. Then he was hugging me and squeezing me so tightly I couldn't breathe in.

"Thank Eru you're ok," he whispered into my hair. I opened my mouth to say something but no sound came out. This was partly because I hadn't got enough air in my lungs so make any noise and partly because I honestly didn't have a clue what to say, the all time biggest crush of my lie, the one guy I loved more than anything else had just kissed me.

He eventually stopped squeezing me so hard, just enough so that I could breathe but he held onto me, rubbing my back. Then I noticed that the halo effect I had noticed before wasn't due to his hair, he really was glowing in a pure white light. I suddenly remembered Elrond's words the day Glorfindel had rescued me from the river:

"_Some elves that have come from the lands across the sea are sometimes seen in the form they appear in the distant lands, that is as you say, glowing with a white light… It usually happens either when he is feeling a very strong emotion or concentrating…"_

Well hugging didn't require concentration _that means he's feeling a strong emotion, he must be relieved, but no, he was glowing when I first opened my eyes after he kissed me…kissed me… but that must mean… _

I abruptly broke away from him.

"You love me?" I whispered in disbelief. "But… but you can't love me!" I said sounding thoroughly alarmed.

Then he started laughing and I realised how wonderful it sounded, like bells. _God elves are the hottest creatures ever to be invented… umm created…_

"And why would you say that?" he asked.

"Well you're an elf,"

"Well noticed," he said playfully. I ignored him.

"And you're wise and clever and intelligent and brave and you're head of the Golden House of Golden Flowers or whatever and you've killed a Balrog and you're just… you're too kind and nice and generous for me and you deserve better than me, far better than me in fact and…" I stopped briefly for a breath since I had been rambling on at breakneck pace, "and no one I love has ever loved me back… but then again," I continued "I've never actually loved anyone before…"

"Before?" he prompted.

"Before you" I said quietly. He looked at me for moment and then suddenly he kissed me again, but this time I kissed him back, it felt like a guilty pleasure, I knew he deserved someone better than me, there probably wasn't an elf in the whole of Middle-earth who truly deserved him. Then I started to feel guilty for feeling guilty, after all it was obvious he loved me. I soon realised that Ariel had been right about something other than the fact he loved me, elves were obviously amazing kissers!

We broke apart at last, I was totally out of breath, but being an elf Glorfindel of course wasn't.

"Glorfindel you mustn't do this," I said once I had got my breath back "you deserve someone so much better than me, a beautiful wise elf who can dance and sing and draw and can sit with you and name every flower in every field and every star in the night sky. Glorfindel, I'm an idiot! I know nothing about anything!"

"And yet you laugh about it," he said.

"Well yes I might as well…" I said, I suppose I had been vaguely hoping for something along the lines of 'of course you're not an idiot Caeli' but Glorfindel had been painfully truthful, as usual.

"Which is exactly my point! Those elven maidens you were describing who can sing and dance and draw, do you know how upset they can get when they miss one target or lose one duel? As I have told you countless times before, I don't think I have ever taught someone how to use a sword who has quite so little talent as you but I have never enjoyed teaching anyone so much as I enjoy teaching you."

"I'm sure you can find an elf like that," I said cutting him off. He smiled at me and gently pushed a wisp of stray hair out of my face.

"Why are you so adamant that I find an elf?" He asked

"Because… elves are better…" I said lamely. Glorfindel raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Do you remember when you told me you'd rather be a mortal than an elf? I never got a chance to ask you why, but I think I've realised. Elves live their day to day lives knowing that it will never end, anything they could do today they could also to in a hundred or even a thousand years from now. From the first time I ever met you I have always wondered at the way you live in the moment, you do every thing you can to make your day happier because you know you may never have a chance to smell that flower again or watch that sunrise from that particular tree. You take delight in so much more and everything is so much more beautiful to you because you're doomed." Here he paused to take a breath. "When I was in the Halls of Mandos waiting to be judged only one thing was on my mind and that was how much I wished I had done in my life but hadn't because I thought I would get another chance to, because I thought would never die. Since that I believe I have lived a better life purely because I appreciated it so much more. That is something most elves can never truly do."

"You're right, that is why I don't want to be immortal, although I could not have put it so beautifully myself,"

"Why thank you very much, do you take back what you said about me having to love an elf?" I smiled.

"You are Lord Glorfindel of both Gondolin and Rivendell, who am I to say whom you may love and whom you may not?" I said giving in.

"Then if I said I loved the maiden sitting next to me you would not object?" I took in a sharp breath _he loves me he loves me he loves me he loves me, what do I do? I love him so, so, but… this can't be happening, I'm… this is Glorfindel… and me… OH MY GOD! _

"No, I would not my Lord," I said "and if I may be so bold I would suggest to your Lordship that… she feels the same about you." I said the last bit quietly, hardly daring or wanting to believe it. After all, in a lifetime of stupid things, falling in love with an elf lord was defiantly the stupidest! Glorfindel smiled the happiest smile I had ever seen him smile and he glowed with a beautiful white aura. In my humble opinion he looked… like a God come down to earth. He kissed me and hugged me all over again and I don't think I have ever been happier in all my life.

However, as always tends to happen in my life, the happy moment was rudely interrupted. Suddenly the twins came round rushing round the fountain.

"So it's true then?" asked Elrohir

"What's true?" asked Glorfindel.

"That you're…" began Elladan

"In love?" said Elrohir

"Courting?" said Elladan.

"What do you think Caeli?" Glorfindel asked me

"Hmm," I considered "Love, I reckon so," I said grinning happily "Courting… I've never liked that word, brings up images of pointless red roses that mean nothing and bad love poems that mean even less,"

"I'm inclined to agree and I'm glad you wish for neither," said Glorfindel.

"What happened to the famous bachelor of Rivendell sought in vain by countless beautiful ladies?" asked Elladan.

"He fell for the wicked witch from beyond the seas!" I answered for Glorfindel.

"Well before you completely fall for the self proclaimed wicked witch from beyond the seas, I think you should go and talk to Inwe," said Elladan

"She knows already? How many people know?" asked Glorfindel

"Most of Rivendell," said Elrohir lightly.

"Ariel told everyone," explained Elladan.

"I will kill that girl! And who is Inwe?" I asked Glorfindel.

"An elf I very nearly courted a few years ago, she is convinced I'm desperately in love with her," answered Glorfindel miserably.

"Aww, what happened?" I asked

"I didn't love her, she is a lovely person, but I just don't love her,"

"Oh,"

"While you're at it you should talk to Alassea and Gwenel and Iste, oh and Miniell," said Elrohir.

"And don't forget Curuwen, she'll be devastated!"

"Curuwen doesn't like me!" protested Glorfindel.

"My dear Glorfindel if you can't see that she worships the ground you walk on you are blind my friend!" announced Elladan.

"And if you're going to Mirkwood anytime soon you should also apologise to the Surion sisters, they followed you everywhere when they came over here," added Elrohir grinning. Glorfindel groaned.

"What about Mallrin? I swear she loves you too," said Elrohir

"She loves me!" said Elladan defensively.

"In your dreams brother!" teased Elrohir.

"How on earth did you manage to pick up so many admirers?" I asked Glorfindel in astonishment.

"It comes from being around along time my love," answered Glorfindel with a sigh.

"Oh, and father wishes to speak with you," added Elladan.

"Do you know why?" asked Glorfindel.

"Probably wishes to talk with you about the suitability or otherwise of courting Caeli, I think he thinks he's your father as well."

"This is ridiculous! I knew his grandparents before his father was even born!"

"Yes, well, you'd better go and find him anyway or we might have a repeat of that day Elrohir refused to see him and I don't think our lovely home would survive another day like that…" said Elladan.

"Ok, ok I'll go," Glorfindel said resignedly. "And Caeli, please don't kill Ariel when I'm gone because Legolas will then undoubtedly kill you for which I will have to kill Legolas and then I'll have half the female population of Rivendell after me and when I'm gone I would love to say the twins would then take revenge on said ladies but somehow," he said looking up at the twins, "I doubt it,"

"Well I would hate to have your death by hundreds of distressed elfesses go unpunished so I shall endeavour to control my temper, good luck!"

"Thank you," Glorfindel kissed me lightly on the lips and then disappeared in search of Elrond.

"Oh no here comes Erestor," said Elladan indicating straight ahead of us. I couldn't see anyone.

"Yeah, so what?" asked Elrohir "Why are you dragging me away I want to talk to Caeli!"

"I've just lost my 203rd library book," said Elladan sheepishly.

"Oh you haven't?" groaned Elrohir.

"Yes I have, which is why we should go," said Elladan sounding more and more urgent by the second.

"You know maybe you should just own up, admit the error of your ways for once, reform!" Elrohir said, trying to reason with his brother.

"No that's just stupid, he'll kill me!" protested Elladan.

"Caeli, what do you think we should do?" sighed Elrohir. I looked in the direction Elladan had pointed before, now even I could see Erestor coming towards us, stony faced.

"I think you should run… very fast," I said honestly.

"You're supposed to be on my side!" argued Elrohir.

"She's on mine so tough, lets go!" said Elladan and finally managed to drag his brother away. Sadly, it was too late for me to get up from where I was sitting and run for it. _Ok… number of possible escape routes… 0, let's put plan B into action… umm what did I say plan B was again?_

"Do you really love him?" asked Erestor as soon as he was standing in front of me. _Hi to you too._

"Glorfindel? Yes of course I do!" I said crossly "Why would I say I would if I didn't?"

"Well the reason most ladies give is that they want the title 'Lady of the house of the Golden flower', Glorfindel is a powerful elf, I wouldn't blame you," said Erestor calmly.

"Firstly, we're not married, and being fifteen, marriage is the last thing on mind so no, I haven't even considered the title. Secondly, I could wake up in a hospital bed back in my own world at any moment having forgotten that Glorfindel ever existed apart form in a book so why would I care about a title? And, and thirdly do you trust your friend's judgement so little that you think that he wouldn't be able to tell if I loved him or not? You're a great friend aren't you!" I shouted

"If he trusts you where is he now then?" challenged Erestor.

"Gone to speak to Elrond, not that it's any of your business!"

"So he hasn't left you?"

"Left me!" I shouted. "I don't think I want to carry on this conversation." I announced. I got up to leave. Well, I tried to get up but one of my legs wasn't working properly, something I probably should have expected seeing as I had been sitting for almost the whole day. I almost fell back down again but Erestor caught me.

"Caeli I'm sorry, I should trust his judgement," said Erestor as he helped me sit back down by the fountain. I said nothing. Erestor straightened up and avoiding my eyes he said:

"I'm also sorry for treating you so badly when we first met, I realise now that I was merely anxious because you were different. That was wrong of me." He stood in silence for a moment and all that could be heard was the faint singing of elves far away.

"You should get Glorfindel to draw you you know, he is a very talented artist though he will not admit it himself." he said suddenly and then walked off. I listened to his footfalls on the grass dying away as I stared fixedly at my hands clasped in my lap. Should I forgive him? He didn't sound very sorry, he seemed to speak in a permanent monotone. But then again maybe I just didn't know him well enough.

"Still sitting here? You know the grass beneath you will soon wither and die due to lack of sunlight," I smiled up at Glorfindel.

"What did Elrond say?" I asked.

"What I expected, that is that he thought I would be the last one to fall for a mortal girl, and have I thought it through properly and what would my parents say if they were here, and have you thought it through properly and what would your parents say…" he explained. I laughed. "What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing, just imagining parents' my faces if I told them,"

"Would they be happy for you?"

"Happy?" I asked laughing "They'd be devastated! They would probably think I should be concentrating on my exams,"

"Do they not wish to find you a suitable man to settle down with? I thought that is the custom for mortals as they live such short lives,"

"Firstly, much as I love them, I would never let them find _me _a man and secondly, at my age most girls are still in education,"

"Proportional to your expected life span that is a long time spent at school, do you not get bored?"

"You bet, but Ariel and I find ways to survive," I said smiling cheekily. I pulled him down next to me and linked my arm through his.

"What would your parents think?" I asked him.

"I think they would just be glad that I'm happy," I smiled at him.

"That's good then, everyone else seems to disagree,"

"You mean Erestor? I think I've convinced him that I know my own feelings slightly better than he does," Glorfindel said "That reminds me, he suggested I drew you, seemed to think you'd make a lovely picture, looks like you have an admirer now as well!"

"Erestor, no way, that's just stupid!" I exclaimed. Glorfindel just laughed.

"Well either way we can't disappoint him, come with me," he helped me up from where I was sitting and I followed him to his room.

While he searched for pens and paper I plonked myself down on a cushion and drew my knees up to my chin.

"You never told me you were an artist," I said.

"All elves are artists, it's a side affect of living so long," he replied.

"Erestor says you are particularly good though,"

"Erestor, gives compliments too easily then," he said settling down in front of me with a pad of parchment type stuff and what looked amazingly similar to the pencils I always used to use.

"Are you drawing me like this?" I asked

"Yes, it's a very Caeli-like pose I think," he said smiling. I watched him sketching for a while and it was almost as if I could feel his eyes scrutinising me, it felt odd to think that because of his eyesight he could see me a lot better than I have ever seen myself.

"Are you ok?" he asked after a few minutes. "You look uncomfortable, do you want to have a rest?"

"No, no I'm fine, I just feel weird, no one's ever drawn me before, I feel very… self-conscious," I said.

"I know what you mean it can be unnerving, but you look lovely, don't worry," he assured me. There was silence again for a while, filled only by the sound of his pencil scratching on the paper.

"What do you use to write with?" I asked at last.

"Lead, it's a metal," he explained.

"Yes I know, it's poisonous for us, I assume it isn't for you then?"

"Poisonous?" he asked immediately stopping drawing and looking worried.

"Don't worry! As long as I don't touch it I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I can use something else, I don't want you to die because of the pencil I'm using!" he said smiling slightly.

"I'll be fine really, I just wont touch it. You see we do learn some things at schools in my world!"

"Oh really, I would have never noticed," he said sarcastically as he drew, "after all as you've told me yourself, you can't cook or sew or knit-" he listed.

"So that's what you learnt at elf-lord school in the Undying Lands? Sewing, Knitting?" I asked innocently as he scowled at me.

"Young boys learn fighting," he said "and even that wasn't serious, it was never expected that we would meet any danger."

"I suppose they thought you would never leave," I said.

"No, how much do you know about my past anyway? It's really quite scary," I giggled _scaring an elf lord, whatever next?_

"Well," I clearer my throat and put on by best news-reader accent "Glorfindel was born in Valinor and left to ummm…"

"Retrieve the Silmarils from Morgoth," he filled me in.

"That's right, but being the wonderful he is he never took part in the kin-slaying,"

"I only left because my all my family where leaving anyway," he added

"Of course," I continued, slightly miffed at being interrupted. "You then lived in Gondolin till it fell,"

"To cut a very long story short, yes I 'lived'" he said smiling over his paper at me.

"And when it did fall you were exceedingly brave and courageous and fought a Balrog to protect Tuor and… help…"

"And Idril his wife and their son Earendil,"

"Thank you, anyway you fought and you erm… this bit's always really sad when I read it even sadder now I know you," I paused "You killed the balrog then you…" I looked down at the ground, finding I couldn't actually say it looking at him "you died… and fell into the abyss," I took a deep breath "but the Eagle, what's his name?"

"Thorondor, an amazing creature,"

"He got you out and umm… buried you… I hate saying this, it's so sad…."

"Please, I want to know how much you know, I'm sorry if it upsets you, but I'm touched,"

"Yes, well, golden flowers grow on your grave,"

"You almost know more than me," he remarked. I gave a little smile.

"Then you went to the Halls of Mandos and, this is only my assumption, but I think you were forgiven for leaving Valinor because you weren't involved in the kin-slaying and because of all the brave things you did for Gondolin, so the ban of the Noldor was lifted and you stayed in Valinor for a while longer, is that right?"

"Yes, I couldn't tell you how long though, it's hard to measure time there,"

"Then you returned to Middle-earth and people get confused when, did you come with Gandalf?"

"No, no I came to Middle-earth a long time before Gandalf, I came to help Gil-Galad against Sauron. There were many battles, but I doubt all for them where recorded. You may know of the Last Alliance when Sauron's ring was taken?" I nodded "I'm sure you know much of ring, but this is not the place to discuss it, so, impress me, what else do you know of me?"

"You scared off the evil witch king who ran away to hide!" I said grinning.

"The battle of Fornost yes," said Glorfindel smiling "He didn't really run though, they glide."

"Run and jump then," I said.

"Fair enough,"

"Up to this date that is all I know of you,"

"You know a lot about me,"

"I try," I said, secretly very proud of myself for being the ultimate lotr know-it-all.

"I'm… done!" Glorfindel announced. I jumped to my feet in excitement.

"Let me see!" I said excitedly.

"I suppose I should let the model see her picture…" Glorfindel said laughing and handed it over to me.

It was beautiful, much more than I deserve. He hadn't straightened out my messy hair or omitted any slight blemishes on my skin and the picture was amazingly truthful, but at the same time he had managed to somehow make the best of me come up out. It's like looking at your favourite mirror at your favourite time of day, you now how it can just make you feel happy about yourself? Well the drawing was like that.

"Well?" asked Glorfindel sounding slightly nervous, "Do you like it?" I beamed rays of beautiful sunshine.

"I love it!" I squealed hugging him tightly. "You're a stunning artist, Erestor was right,"

"Thank you," he said and I could have sworn I saw the elf lord blush! "May I keep it?"

"Of course you can keep it, you drew it!" I said slightly surprised at the question.

"It's of you, you have every right to keep it," he said walking over to his desk. Out of one of the draws he produced a golden frame (everything in his room was golden) and slipped the picture inside and put it on his desk.

"I don't deserve frame like that or a place like that…" I said trying to be modest although actually I thought the picture looked quite good in the frame.

"My dear you're lying, you think you look beautiful in the frame," he said.

"Right, that's it!" I said folding my arms "I want to know once and for all if you can mind read or not!" I said in my most assertive tone of voice.

"Maybe," he said, I scowled at him.

"It was a yes or no answer!"

"I always have trouble with those questions,"

"Would you like a kiss?"

"You know, yes or no answers have suddenly become a lot easier, I think I'll say-" but he never finished his sentence because in the most clichédway possible, I'd silenced him with a kiss.

ATTENTION EVERYONE WHO IS EVEN CONSIDERING NOT REVIEWING!

This is Ala's first ever romance scene (blushes) and so she would love you is you gave lots and lots of feed back, even if you don't like it please review and say why. Tin would now like to sulk cause she didn't get special attention when she wrote HER first romance scene (ie the one with Legolas and Ariel) and is currently having a tantrum, lol.

If you read this story but you don't generally review this is the ideal time to start! Reviews are the only ways we can improve and you'll really make our little stressed-out lives (Ala would like to add that she feels life is being particularly evil at the moment, Tin agrees) so much brighter and happier:D :D

PLUS: You get big kiss from the Nazgul if you review…… so what are you waiting for? (Tinis questioning Tolkien:do Nazgul even have lips?)

PS I do believe I told someone that I might update on Saturday (that being last Saturday) so I'm really sorry! I totally misjudged the time it would take….


	19. Chapter 19

Ariel: ELROND IS EVIL!

Caeli: SET YOUR FELL BEASTS ON HIM!

Elrond/gulp/

Tin's pot plant: What did ya do?

Elrond: I put them back in the cage and took away their teddy bears /Ariel and Caeli rattle the bars/

Tin's pot plant: Er… why/RATTLE/

Elrond: Because they're immature little idiots with a Pirates of the Caribbean obsession!

Tin/hums theme tune/

Elrond: ARGH! INTO THE CAGE WITH YOU/puts Tin in cage/

Ala/waves at Elrond cheekily, and he realises something…/

Elrond: YOU STOLE VILYA! YOU EVIL GIRL/chases Ala/

Ala/babbles/ Ok I better do the disclaimer and run… TolkienownsitallmeandTindon'tsodon'tsueus ARGH/runs/

Tin's pot plant/smirk/ And what they don't know is that Ala's stolen the replica… muahaha /waves leaf which is adorned with Vilya/

Elrond/having caught Ala/ OI! DAMN POT PLANT! GIVE ME VILYA BACK/brandishes hedge clippers/

Tin's pot plant: ARGH/cowers/

**Chapter 19**

**Ariel POV**

I spent August wandering around Rivendell, enjoying the sunshine, the peace, and of course Legolas. I was beginning to get more used to Middle-earth, although obviously I missed home. Although there were quite a lot of things back home that I really didn't miss, such as rude people and concrete, I was beginning to realise just how bored I was getting. If I got bored back home, I'd ring up Caeli and we'd go shopping, or to the park, or maybe to see a film. But in Rivendell, if I got bored, there wasn't really anything I could do. I couldn't go into town, I couldn't spend hours on the phone, I couldn't paint my toenails, and I couldn't read a book, because the books in the Imladris library were written in Elvish. Basically, Rivendell didn't offer all that much to do for a born and bred city girl who was useless at fighting and therefore couldn't spend her day practising.

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, the fact that I'm rubbish at archery means I should practice more. But it isn't any fun on my own, so I won't be doing that._

Me and Caeli had gotten into a sort of routine by the middle of August. Every morning, she'd wake up at some ungodly hour of the morning and go off somewhere, probably to go snog Glorfindel), then Legolas would wake me up at a slightly more normal hour of the day. I'd spend the morning learning archery, and then after lunch I'd bugger around with Caeli. To be honest, my days were pretty uneventful, and I wouldn't have protested if Eru had randomly decided that the day would begin at 5 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, Eru decided no such thing. Thankfully, the evenings in Rivendell were pretty fun. Me and Legolas had invented a little tradition of going up to the top of a particular hill and lying on our backs on the grass, staring up at the stars and talking about everything from cheese to Manwe's possible obsession with ensuring that the Mearas ate their dinner with knives and forks.

A couple of days before Caeli's birthday, I finally decided what I wanted to get her for her birthday. I had absolutely no idea how to get hold of it though, and I doubted that Legolas would know either, so I went on a search for Arwen.

I found her sitting by the statue of Elwing, immersed in some thick and dusty tome which looked as if it hadn't seen daylight in a couple of centuries. She looked up as I approached and sat down next to her.

"Hi Arwen," I said. "What's that you're reading?"

"It is the tale of Turin," she replied. I screwed up my nose in concentration, trying to remember which one that was.

"Is that the one about the elf who married his sister and didn't know that they were related? Then she died and he found out, or something like that?" I said, after a few moments of concentration. She nodded.

"Where did you hear the tale?" she asked curiously. I supposed that most humans didn't really go for elven stories, seeing as from what I'd seen in the films, most humans were terrified of the elves. I opened my mouth to tell her about the Silmarillion, then realised that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about not being from Middle-earth.

"Oh, I read it in a book somewhere," I said. Arwen looked at me oddly.

"I thought that neither you or Caeli know the Elvish languages. Where did you get the book from?" she asked.

_Well, I suppose there's nothing as good as the truth when it comes to avoiding direct lies._

"I think it used to be my mum's. I have no idea where she bought it," I said, shrugging. Arwen looked confused.

"Are there really so many scribes in your homeland that you may commission works from one and not remember who?" she asked, a look of slight amazement on her face.

"In a way, it's kind of hard to explain. I guess the easiest way to describe it is that there are many different – libraries, I suppose – and you pay the owner of the library money in exchange for a book," I explained.

"Do you mean that every time you borrow a book, you have to pay?" Arwen asked, sounding mildly horrified.

_I guess that money isn't exactly commonly used in Rivendell._

"Oh no, once you've paid the book is yours to keep," I clarified. Arwen nodded in understanding. I stared blankly at the statue, both scared and horrified at how easy the half-lies were coming to me. I'd never been a good liar when it came to talking about things. Emotions, fine. I could instantly put on a mask to conceal my emotions and only my closest friends could see past it. But lying? No, I'd never been good at that. I'd always had to stick to half-truths, and lies of omission, although I didn't enjoy lying at all. But sometimes it was necessary, and I was useless at it. And what was scaring me was the fact that I was getting good at lying. And I didn't like it. Not one bit.

"Ariel?"

"Yeah?" I said.

"Were you going to ask me something when you came? You looked as if you were," Arwen said.

"I was actually. How do you spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" I asked, grinning.

"Pardon?" she said, bemused.

"Just joking. I was wondering if you knew somewhere I could get some coloured thread," I said, looking at her face to judge her reaction to the slightly odd request. She gave me a very confused look.

"From a dressmaker of course. Surely human customs are not so different from elven ones that you need to ask that?" she inquired.

"Umm, you know the library system I told you about where you pay to buy books? That basically applies to everything," I said.

"I suppose that would be why you and Caeli sometimes seem as if you don't know what to do in certain situations – because your home sounds so different to here," Arwen mused. "What do you need the thread for?"

"I don't need very much, I just want to make something for Caeli's birthday. It's in a couple of days," I answered. Arwen agreed to help me find thread and we set out on our Quest of the Thread.

Two days later, I was woken up way too early in the morning by someone (who weighed at least as much as the one-eyed one-toed rhinoceros with orange sparkly stripes) jumping onto my bed and landing on top of me. I opened my eyes blearily and saw a grinning Caeli getting ready to poke me.

_Urghhh I hate mornings… oh well better be nice seeing as it's her birthday._

"H-happy birthdayeeeeeeeeeeeee," I said, yawning. Caeli grinned,

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked, still looking like the Cheshire cat.

"Uhmmm," I groaned. "Pink and purple giraffes to put on a superior display of dancing the tango? Whaddya mean?"

"Well let me see, I've decided that we're going to finish my chocolate supplies today! And I'm hungry, so get up!" she informed me. I gaped at her.

_What? Is she crazy? She's giving me some of her chocolate when we might not ever get any again? Of course, when I finish mine I'll do the same for her, but still…_

"Did you just say… you're finishing your chocolate? And you want to share it?" I asked quietly, needing clarification. I wasn't shocked by the fact that she was sharing her chocolate with me. That was a common occurrence back home. But now, chocolate… our supply of chocolate was the biggest tie to our own world that we had. And Caeli was ready to let go.

"Yes," she replied. I looked at her for a moment and made an instant decision. If Caeli was ready to let go of home, to accept the fact that either we would, or we would not, be returning, then I was willing to trust her judgement that this was the best thing to do.

"I think that we should finish mine too," I suggested. "But I'd like to give some to Legolas too."

"And Glorfindel," she added. We both smiled. Legolas and Glorfindel were a big part of our decision to let go. We had both missed having the people we knew around, the people who knew us and loved us for ourselves. Legolas knew that me was a hyper and slightly crazy girl who sometimes withdrew from people to quietly contemplate things, and he loved me because of who I was. Glorfindel loved Caeli for the same basic reasons: who she was.

"Caeli, I want you to open your present before we do the chocolate," I said. I passed her the small parcel, which I'd wrapped up in white linen (obviously, fluorescent purple wrapping paper wasn't available) and she opened it curiously.

I had spent quite a few hours getting tangled up in the beautiful golden and silver threads that I had finally procured, but the end result had been worth it. I had made two bracelets and two anklets, one of each colour.

"They're friendship bracelets, I hope you like them. I figured that we'd each wear a bracelet and an anklet," I explained, hoping that she liked them. I was quickly enveloped in a massive hug.

After a minute, Caeli picked the bracelets out of the linen and passed me a gold anklet and silver bracelet. I tied them round my ankle and my wrist carefully, and Caeli did the same with hers. We sat quietly for a few minutes. I was thinking about how it was time to move on, to accept my new life. Caeli was probably thinking the same sort of thing.

_You know, I never thought that accepting that you're moving on and away from everything and everyone you knew would be so odd… I mean, it feels good. Not exactly happy or cheerful, just that sort of nice peace and calm inside of you._

After a few minutes, a knock on the door indicated that Caeli had a visitor. It was Glorfindel, who was carrying something small. He made Caeli close her eyes while he put her present into her hand. When she opened her eyes, she started squealing in delight and threw her arms around Glorfindel.

"Caeli, even immortal elves need to breathe," I teased her after a few minutes of her hugging Glorfindel. She glared at me a bit and then grinned, shoving her wrist in my face. I gave her an odd look. "Yeah, it's a wrist, so?"

"Look at the bracelet!" she squealed ecstatically. I took another look at her wrist. She was wearing a beautiful gold bracelet with a flower hanging off, like a charm bracelet.

"Wow," I said softly. "That's beautiful." Caeli grinned.

---------------

After lunch, I sent Caeli and Glorfindel off on a nice long walk, under strict instructions not to come back for at least three hours. I dragged Legolas into the kitchens, and received a raised eyebrow for my trouble.

"Er, Ariel, why are we here?" he asked, presumably hoping that I hadn't gone insane.

"So that you can help me make Caeli a birthday cake," I informed him. Legolas looked slightly – ok, very – surprised.

"You actually believe that I know how to bake?" he asked.

"Well, you can't be worse than I am. Last time I tried to make cheese on toast I ended up starting a fire in the kitchen," I said. Legolas snickered.

"And the problem with that is?" he asked, smirking. I gave him a funny look.

"Well duh, I can't cook when there's a fire in the kitchen!" I said. Legolas burst out laughing.

"Isn't it a bit early in the day to get drunk?" he asked between giggles. I fixed my 'death stare of DOOM' on him.

"For your information, o mighty Prince, I am NOT drunk! And what is so funny?" I asked, offended.

"Ariel, unless you eat only raw food, there must have been fires in the kitchens where you prepared your food," Legolas said bemusedly. I stared at him.

_Ohhhh. No gas or electric cookers here._

"This could make life a lot more difficult…" I mused. When I noticed Legolas giving me a funny look, I attempted to explain. "Um, back home we don't use fire to cook food. We use either gas or the power in lightening to warm a surface so that a saucepan gets hot from it."

"Gas?" he asked.

_Sigh… I suppose that people here just don't know the difference between air and gas._

"Air," I told him. Well, it wasn't exactly true, but it was close enough.

After a few more minutes of trying to explain modern cooking to Legolas, I gave up and told him that he was just going to have to do anything that involved a fire. Two hours later, we had managed to make a massive chocolate cake out of the last of my chocolate supplies. I reached into a sack of flour and wiped it on Legolas' arm. He glared at me and smeared flour on my nose. We ended up having a flour fight and looked like snowmen by the time we left the kitchens. Needless to say, we got quite a few funny looks on our way to find clean clothes.

**Caeli's POV**

I was sat on the grass next to Glorfindel in the training ground watching the twins duel. A kinda rubbish way to spend my sixteenth birthday you might think? I'm pleased to say you would be very wrong, it was spellbinding, it was almost like a very fast dance and their swords were moving so fast that to my own mortal eyes it was just a blur. It was easy to forget this side of Elladan and Elrohir. I had spent a marvellous summer with them in which they had felt, if anything, like younger brothers. While they were in their home away from the dangers of the world they became as childlike and playful five years olds. They completely let go of elven dignity and grace and truly appreciated life. But as I was now seeing there was a totally different side to them as well. They were also highly skilled and well respected fighters, cold, calculating and lethal. If I were an orc I would run, far, far away. Happily, in this particular life I was a girl, albeit one with not that many more brain cells than an orc, but still human.

Suddenly I saw one of the wooden practice swords fly up into the air and land with a thud a few feet away from me. Everyone cheered and the twins bowed to each other, the duel was over.

"So, who won?" I asked Glorfindel, totally confused.

"Elrohir!" he grinned back, "you should pay more attention!" he said patting me affectionately on the head.

"Just because I-" I began but gave up as Glorfindel had already got up and was walking over to the twins to congratulate them. I tried to stretch but then realised that most of my limbs were unavailable for stretching due extreme cramp and stiffness. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. When I opened them again the twins were standing in front of me. I grinned my best Cheshire cat grin and lift my arms up to them from my sitting position.

"Well done guys! I can't get up," I complained. I was immediately dragged up by one of them and was catapulted right into the other. It was Elladan.

"You were amazing!" I said hugging him.

"Why thank you, however it is a shame do you not think that my dear brother cheated?" he said casting an evil glance in Elrohir's direction.

"Did he really? I never heard about that, please do enlighten me."

"He stepped on my foot," Elladan said crossly. "It's against the rules and he made me drop my sword,"

"Orcs obey no such rules brother," replied Elrohir smirking.

"I didn't drop my sword merely because you stepped on me, it was the shock that you would break the revered rules of duelling in a fair fight," said Elladan, holding his head a little higher. I fought the urge the burst out laughing.

"That's your excuse," grinned Elrohir.

"It's the truth!"

"Is not,"

"Is so,"

"Is-"

"Why is Elrond getting out practice swords?" Elladan asked suddenly. I looked in the direction he was gesturing in and sure enough Elrond, lord of Imladris was selecting a practice sword.

"He's duelling against Glorfindel, didn't he tell you?"

"Glorfindel!" said both Elladan and I at once.

"Yeah, just for fun. He knows Glorfindel will win…" I looked to the other end of the field. Elrohir was right, there was Glorfindel tossing the wooden sword between his hands. I ran up to him.

"What do you think you're doing!" I demanded once I had arrived, panting slightly (well it was a very long field ok!).

"Joining in the fun," he answered smiling cheekily.

"You could get hurt you're crazy, this is Elrond!" I said, folding my arms

"Yes, and I am me," he answered, adopting my arms-folded position.

"Stop it!" I said, trying to look cross.

"Look, it's highly unlikely that I'll get hurt anyway," he said putting his hand on my shoulder "It's only a bit of fun,"

"I know, it's just, I just feel someone should tell you to be careful," I explained rather lamely.

"Well now you have, so you can have a clear conscience," he said and ruffled my hair.

"DO NOT-" I said dangerously

"Touch the hair," finished Glorfindel laughing as I tried to smooth it back down. "Sorry, I couldn't resist," I glared at him for a second then wrapped my arms round him.

"Good luck," I whispered then ran back to where the others were sitting on the grass.

The Glorfindel v Elrond duel was on a totally new level to the Elladan v Elrohir duel. The twins' duel was pretty to watch - this was scary. I found myself shuffling back more than once in case I got hit. The atmosphere of the audience watching was, I also noticed, completely different. In the twins' duel people were whistling and cheering and laughing amongst themselves. Now there was this awed silence as everyone held their breath. I found myself worrying more that Glorfindel might do a serious injury to Elrond than the other way round.

As was inevitable, Glorfindel won. I didn't really see it happen, just one moment Elrond was fine and the next he had a sword at his throat. The cheering was even louder than before and you could actually feel all the tension being released.

I jumped up and ran into Glorfindel's arms.

"Yay! You did it! You did it!" I squealed happily twirling round and round.

"I think he would be rather embarrassed if he didn't," Said Elrond smiling.

"You fought very well Elrond, you have every reason to be proud," assured Glorfindel as he grabbed me by the waist to try and keep me still. Sadly his efforts were in vain as a loud high-pitched voice called from behind me:

"SURPRISE!"

I turned round and there was Ariel bearing an enormous chocolate birthday cake and Legolas behind her with plates, a knife and the chopsticky things.

"WOW! That's amazing! Did you make it?"

"Y-"

"Thank you!" I continued to squeal.

"Picnic!" announced Ariel triumphantly. She laid the down and unloaded Legolas.

"Right, you're the birthday girl, so you cut," she said handing me the knife.

I cut the first slice and then handed the knife around so that everyone could have some. The cake was of course, delicious and we spent a thoroughly wonderful afternoon picnicking in the sun.

I spent a similarly wonderful evening with Glorfindel, snuggled up next to him in a tree watching the sunset. We lazily chatted about everything from space to chocolate to languages to trees. Then we were quiet for a while and I peacefully considered how I was the luckiest girl in the world to have him in my life. He firmly believed in making the best use he could of his life and he was truly kindest, sweetest, most dedicated, most sincere, funniest… I could on, but the point is I loved him and no one has ever made me happier.

August rolled on into September and I became more and more attached to Rivendell and its people. I began to get used to how things worked, its little customs like always singing a hymn to Elbereth after the evening meal and always putting your sword against your forehead before using it. These were things that no one told us but we picked up from watching other people.

Glorfindel began to spend more and more time in meetings with Elrond and the other elf lords, discussing the ring and the 'growing threat of Mordor' as they called it. Ariel and I had decided that it would be best if we just let these meetings follow their own course by not attending so that nothing was changed. Glorfindel came to find me after each meeting to tell me what was happening, partly so that I knew who was doing what when and I think partly he felt better if I knew and I was relaxed about the news because it meant everything was going as it should.

Ariel began to have healing lessons with Elrond which apparently she was rather good at. I would often find her in the house of healing sitting on the floor with many different colours bottles laid out in a semi-circle in front of her and she would point at them all one after the other and whisper the name and uses of each bottle to herself. I don't think I have ever seen her so concentrated in all her life. By the way, by concentrated I mean 'deep in concentration' I don't mean my best friend was turning into a strong drink.

I still had morning sword training sessions with Glorfindel and I was improving but for every step forward I took I also took a whole load of bruises. It wasn't that Glorfindel wasn't careful with me, it was just that sometimes he forgot that I was just mortal and therefore a lot easier to break. However, whenever he did hurt me he felt so guilty for the next few days that I had to remind him that I wasn't made out of glass. Despite the bruises progress was definitely being made and I can only thank the stars that it was Glorfindel teaching me because as I have mentioned before, I have no natural talent at all but Glorfindel was the best fighter in all Rivendell so really, we balanced each other out.

Every now and again I played around in the training grounds and I soon learnt that there were a lot people who had enough patience to let me have a go at whatever they were practising. I learnt a bit of archery, a little sword throwing and a special trick for disarming your opponent from Merenon. But a last came what I had most been dreading: horse riding.

Glorfindel managed to drag me off to the stables one afternoon with Ariel in tow armed with bandages and one of her oddly coloured bottles. Glorfindel led me to chestnut brown horse who was standing peacefully in her stall.

"Not Asfaloth?" I asked.

"No, Asfaloth would let anyone ride him, if you're going to convince people that you come from Middle-earth you need to be able to ride any horse. This is Felar, a fine horse for you to learn on." he looked down at me and laughed at my 'yeah right' look.

He took the horse out of the stable and into the field. Out in the sun I noticed what was missing.

"Hey, wait a second, I'm not going to ride bareback am I?"

"Of course!" he said smiling.

"What! No way!" I protested. I could hear Ariel laughing behind me. "And you can be quiet!" I said crossly.

"OK? Are you ready?" Glorfindel asked.

"No! I can't ride bareback!" I said in shock, did he not understand that I had never ridden before?

"Of course you can!" said Glorfindel encouragingly and smiled at me as if he thought I could do anything. I melted.

"Kiss for luck then?" I asked.

"Of course," he said and drew me up to him and gave me nice long kiss before gently lifting me up on to the horse. I screamed.

"I can't do this! Get me down!" said urgently.

"You'll be fine," said Glorfindel reassuringly. "If you fall, which I'm sure you wont, I'll be right here to catch you and I'll be holding your hand at first anyway ok?"

"NO! I am not ok!" I shouted. "I want to get down! Ariel, get Glorfindel to let me down!" I said urgently. I was so scared. The horse was a lot taller than I thought it would be and it just felt like I was going to slip of at any moment.

"Glorfindel, maybe you should let her have a rest and get her breath back… then umm, she can try again in a few moments," said Ariel sensing that I could be about to start screaming.

"Ok, ok," he said. "I'll let you down now," he let me slowly slide off the horse and into his arms. He hugged me. "Ok, well, you obviously find this hard, but… so does everyone,"

"Liar!" I said crossly.

"Ok, yes I was lying, you seem to be taking it particularly badly." he admitted.

"Just pretend it's a theme park ride and nothing can really go wrong ok?" suggested Ariel. I nodded.

"Ok, lets have another go," he said and put me back up on the horse. I took few deep breaths.

"Are you ok?" asked Ariel. I nodded again and Glorfindel squeezed my hand.

"Well done," he said "Now we're going to go for a short slow walk ok? And you'll be-"

"Fine," I completed "Yes, yes I know, I'm fine now," I said irritably.

"Fine then," he said and let go of my hand.

"What? No! Don't do that!" I said clinging onto the horse. He grinned cheekily back at me.

"You'll be fine remember?" he said sarcastically.

"OK, OK, I'm sorry!" I said quickly as the gorse started to move. "Please, don't let me fall!"

"I wont! It's ok," he said as he watched the horse take me in a slow circle with me looking terrified on its back.

"You're an evil person you know that Glorfindel?" I said whilst tying desperately to keep my balance. He laughed and nodded. Ariel had collapsed next to him in a heap of giggles.

"Your… expression…" managed before erupting with laughter again. I scowled at her and sat up straighter. Sensing my slightly improved confidence, the horse started to go a lot faster. I screamed. I managed to hold on for about three feet and I started slipping off. I screamed again as I fell off onto the ground.

I heard Ariel and Glorfindel both running up to me and I soon saw Glorfindel's face in front of mine.

"Are you ok?" he asked. I burst out laughing, sat up and kissed him.

"Caeli," he sighed as he hugged me. "Don't that again, I was really worried!" he said as stroked my hair back.

"I thought you could have hurt yourself really badly!" said Ariel coming up next to us. "People break their necks falling off horses you know!"

"Sorry!" I said in a small voice "I thought I might have hurt myself for a moment!"

"But you are ok aren't you?" asked Glorfindel.

"Fine," I assured him and at just that moment the horse decided that my hair might taste nice.

Well, that took along time didn't it? We are very very sorry and it's all coursework's fault, we had tons (think 200-page-long IT projects – bleurgh), and we were a bit stressed, but we would never abandon the story, so please accept our most sincere apologies.

Ala would like to add something that she forgot to add at the bottom of the last chapter – I wont be going through Glorfindel's history again in the story cause otherwise it will get a bit repetitive but it's a long and dark history and if you have any questions about it please put them in a review or PM us and I'll do my best to answer :D


	20. Chapter 20

Fell beasty: I have a teddy bear!

Witch-king: And I have a pet bunny rabbit!

Fell beasty: It's name is Co op Bob!

Ala: Hehehe I thought of that name in maths!

Tin: Yeah she got hyper and scrawled 'Co op Bob' all over my maths book /Ala sniggers/

Ala: I only did that cause you were going on about lines OA and OB and called OB, BOB. But anyway, then I found a button! But Tin's pot plant made me give it to it because apparently the button was a furby in disguise…

Tin: But before she handed the button over, I named it Tesco Fred/grins/

Elrond's right eyebrow: Don't forget me/Ala and Tin snigger/

Tin: How could I forget you, Elrond's right eyebrow? Or, actually, I gave you a new name, so actually, its Waitrose Wendy!

Ala: Yeah, yeah, we're crazy, we know/Ala and Tin bow/

Tin: Don't forget, Waitrose Wendy is actually a furby in disguise and is owned by Elrond's left eyebrow!

Ala: Huh/screws up nose in concentration/ ohhhhh, I get it. So Elrond's left eyebrow owns Elrond's right eyebrow which is a furby in disguise and is called Waitrose Wendy?

Tin: You got it! Fell beasty, can I give Co op Bob a cuddle?

Fell beasty/hands over Co op Bob/ Well guys, while Tin is busy hugging Co op Bob and Ala is playing tug of war with Tin's pot plant (they're fighting over Tesco Fred), I guess I'd better do the disclaimer. So here goes: Tolkien owns Middle-earth and everything to do with it. Ala owns Co op Bob and Caeli. Tin owns Tesco Fred, Waitrose Wendy, and Ariel. And the infernal pot plant.

**Chapter 20**

**Ariel POV**

As September became October, the leaves began to turn orange and the air got cooler. I spent more time cuddled up to Legolas in front of a fire than running around causing mayhem with Caeli, and I had pretty much settled in to my new life in Rivendell. Sure, sometimes thoughts and memories of home crossed my mind, and I had bad days when homesickness made me curl up in bed and cry for hours, but mostly, I was happy.

Pretending to be from Middle-earth was getting easier, too. Both me and Caeli had gotten fairly used to the manners and ways of speech that were used by Middle-earthians. We were even getting better at the basics of some skills that most girls would be taught – Caeli was getting good at sword fighting, and I'd discovered that I was quite talented at healing. Of course, my success at healing wasn't exactly anything I could brag about, because having an understanding of diseases and bacteria and such was probably helping me a lot. In any case, we were beginning to act like normal Middle-earthians.

On October 9th, Glorfindel set out from Rivendell to look for 'a group of Halflings and a man'. Obviously, Caeli and I knew that he was going to come back safe and sound, with a half-dead hobbit draped across his horse, but that didn't stop the 'come-back-soon-or-I'll-die-of-a-broken-heart' scene that went on between Glorfy and his girlfriend. I was about to tease Caeli about it when a thought ran through my head of Legolas leaving with the Fellowship. I suddenly realised that in two months time, Legolas would be leaving me for three whole months to save the world. And the thought was not a nice one. I locked the thought away into the very back of my mind and resolved to spend as much time as was humanely possible making memories of the two of us together, so that when he left I could comfort myself with the knowledge that I already had lots of happy memories, and he would be back eventually so that we could create some more memories.

Caeli and I both spent a lot of time working on our fighting and healing skills (fighting for her, healing for me), although we also spent a lot of time together and with our boyfriends. I only called Legolas my 'boyfriend' because I didn't know what the appropriate word was. Obviously he wasn't my husband or fiancé; 'partner' just didn't sound right, and 'lover' was definitely inaccurate. But the word boyfriend wasn't right either – it sounded so childish, and what I felt for Legolas wasn't childish. To be honest, we really weren't anything resembling a boyfriend and girlfriend. I supposed that if I had to define our relationship, I'd call us two people who were in a loving, romantic relationship. We weren't 'going out' because we hadn't actually gone on a date – that would have been hard in Rivendell seeing as there were no cinemas or restaurants or places to go to.

Although I'd only had just over a month of healing lessons, by the time October rolled around I was getting quite good. After two weeks, I had memorised the uses of forty seven different remedies. Elrond spent another week teaching me to identify the herbs that were used in the medicines, and then it took me two weeks to learn to make the medicines. I knew it sounded like a lot to Caeli when I told her about it, and she'd given me a long lecture on not being a Mary-Sue, but the truth was that all I was doing was memorising. No talent needed whatsoever. Anyone can memorise things if they work hard enough, and I'd spent hours every day sitting with bottles and herbs and lists spread out in front of me, trying to learn everything that Elrond told me to. I'd always hated being told that it was unlikely that I would be able to do something, and so when Elrond had said that he didn't expect me to be able to learn everything that he showed me, I immediately decided to prove him wrong and memorise every darn thing he told me. So I did. And once I'd learnt the facts, Elrond started to teach me how to actually use them practically. Which was a hell of a lot harder than memorising, and it took me a long time to get most of the stuff right.

On the 20th October, I had just pulled on my Garfield nightdress when a loud roaring filled my ears. I ran to the window, staring out, and was definitely unprepared for what I saw. The river had suddenly turned into a fifty-foot high tsunami that, for some reason, was staying in the river and not flooding Rivendell. I stared at it in confusion for a moment, then realised what it was – Glorfindel had just used some sort of elven magic to wash the Nazgul away down the river. Rub a dub dub, nine Nazgul in a tub. I shuddered, realising that if I'd looked out of the window thirty seconds earlier, I would have seen nine of the ten most evil things in Middle-earth. The tenth evil thing being Sauron.

"Ariel! Can I come in?" I was distracted from my shuddering by Legolas pounding on the door, sounding worried.

"Yeah, sure," I called. He practically ran in the door, then looked at the floor when he noticed that I wasn't exactly wearing the most modest of nightdresses… ok, ok, it was strapless and really short. I giggled at his gentlemanly behaviour – the differences between males in Middle-earth and males back home were amazingly enormous and the noble actions were very endearing to me. "What's the matter?"

"Lord Elrond needs your assistance in healing an injured Halfling urgently," Legolas told me, still looking at the floor. While his noble actions were sweet, they were beginning to annoy me. I crossed the floor to stand in front of him and lifted his chin so that he was looking into my eyes.

"Legolas, if I had a problem with you being here while I was wearing my nightdress I wouldn't have told you to come in. And to be honest, what's the big deal? I'm wearing clothes. So look at my face instead of the floor," I told him firmly. He looked uncomfortable.

"But it isn't proper for me to see you dressed like that," he told me. I snorted.

"I think that sometime in the near future, you and me are going to have to sit down and have a little chat about the differences in our cultures. Namely about the differences in our views on propriety. And what were you saying about a Halfling… SHIT!" I suddenly realised that Elrond was asking me to treat Frodo Baggins…

_Oh crap… there goes not getting involved with any part of the War of the Ring… I know that me and Caeli agreed not to get involved because we don't want to accidentally change anything and cause Middle-earth to be destroyed or anything, but I can't not help Frodo! What the hell do I do?_

"Legolas, what do I do? If I help Frodo I might change the timeline and I promised Caeli I wouldn't but if I don't help him that makes me an evil cold heartless bitch!" I said, worry filling my mind. Legolas gently propelled me out of the door.

"Go and help, Ariel. I'll talk to Caeli," he said. I ran off to the House of Healing, receiving many shocked glances from modest, proper inhabitants of Rivendell who couldn't bear the fact that the Prince of Mirkwood's girlfriend had great legs. I smirked to myself. I was definitely going to store that comment up for use against the next elf who wanted to be Princess of Mirkwood and decided to be a bitch to me.

Once I had got into the white building and found the room where Lord Elrond was treating Frodo, I suddenly felt slightly embarrassed about standing in front of the elven lord wearing nothing but a short nightdress. I smiled gratefully at him when he restrained himself from raising the Eyebrow of Doom at me and simply directed me to a massive case of dried herbs.

"Lord Elrond, what is… she… doing here?" asked an elf in a white dress, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes when I realised that it was one of the irritating elves that wanted to marry Legolas. Elrond looked sternly at her.

"Ariel is here because she is well able to produce many of the medicines that the Halfling needs," Elrond said firmly. I smiled at him, happy at his praise of my medicine-making skills.

_I guess Elrond has no idea what Frodo's name is. So Gandalf obviously isn't here yet. Ah well._

Throughout the night, I had to constantly make medicines and crush herbs for Elrond to use on Frodo's wound.

"Um, Lord Elrond, how come I'm here? I mean, there are loads of elves who are better at this than me. I mean, everyone here is so much better at healing than I am, so I was sort of wondering what I'm doing here," I asked timidly.

"Because I believe that the knowledge of infections that your people have may be much more useful than an ability to treat wounds successfully. Besides, when I had a meeting with Prince Legolas the other day, he mentioned that a few times when he has come to wake you up, you have been talking in your sleep about dates. Today was one of those dates," Elrond told me.

_My elven alarm clock has heard me talk about important dates in my sleep? Oh bugger…_

"Oh… are there any more dates that I talk about a lot?" I asked, wanting to know what I'd been saying in my sleep.

"Apparently you often mention the day on which a Council shall be held, and the day before it," Elrond told me. I looked at him for a moment, then decided to ask the question that had been bugging both me and Caeli for the last couple of days.

"Can me and Caeli come to the Council? We already know what's going to happen, so it wouldn't hurt, would it? Please?" I asked, putting on the puppy dog eyes that often worked on elves who wanted to deny something I wanted. "Please pretty please with a cherry on top?" I begged. Elrond, to my surprise, snorted with laughter.

"Please pretty please with a cherry on top? That has to be the most ridiculous expression I've heard since Caeli started talking about brightly coloured birds that say 'Pretty Polly'," Elrond said, chuckling at the absurdity.

"You mean parrots? I love parrots," I said dreamily. "I've always wanted a parrot. Of course, I've always wanted a pet balrog and a pet fell beast too, but I don't suppose I'll ever get any of those three," I commented. Elrond's eyebrow twitched.

"I sincerely hope you were joking about the balrog and fell beast," he said.

"If you knew what parrots do, you'd hope I was joking about having one of them, too," I said, snickering at the thought of having a parrot around Elrond.

"Oh, and what do they do?" Elrond inquired.

"They repeat everything you say, and for some reason they adore rude words and pirate jokes," I told him. "So basically, you walk around with a multicoloured rude word dictionary on your shoulder."

"What is a dictionary?" Elrond asked.

"A book of words. It's so that people know how to spell them and what they mean," I explained. The eyebrow went up.

"That sounds extremely tedious to read, I must say," he commented. I nodded in agreement. "I think Caeli was telling me about what she called the 'most boring book ever known', I think it was called a 'phone book'?" I laughed.

"Yup, people should never ever ever read either the dictionary, the phone book, or the thesaurus," I commented.

"I suppose that the thesaurus is yet another boring book?" Elrond inquired. I nodded.

Our little conversation about boring books kind of finished after that, and I fell asleep curled up on a spare bed. I spent three days helping to create medicines for Frodo, and being ignored by a bunch of snotty elves who looked like they had stilettos up their butts, until in the middle of the night on the 23rd Elrond woke me up.

"Ariel, I have found the cause of the continued illness. A piece of Morgul blade remains in the wound. Can you please prepare a bandage soaked in rosemary, athelas, and the pollen from three mallorn flowers?" Elrond asked me. I set to work. While I made the nice-smelling mixture, I saw that Elrond was about to extract the piece of Morgul blade. I knew that I shouldn't have interfered, but basic knowledge of hygiene made me tell him not to let the tweezer-like thingys near Frodo's wound until he had heated them in the fire. He gave me an odd look. One of the Legolas-fans looked as if she wanted to slap me around the face.

"Lord Elrond, I don't mean to be rude, but you told me I'm here so that I can tell you how to not get Frodo infected. And if you ignore what I say to you on that subject I might as well not have been here at all," I scolded him. "Just heat the damn things!"

Once Frodo's unbeloved piece of Morgul-blade had been removed (with STERILIZED pieces of pointy metal) and he was sleeping peacefully, no longer green, Elrond turned to me.

"Now may I ask why you told me to heat the metal before I healed Frodo? It seemed rather unnecessary to me," Elrond commented. I glared at him and put my hands on my hips in preparation for a nice forceful rant.

"If you're going to make fun of what I tell you to do, then why the hell did you ask me to come? You said it yourself, both me and Caeli know more about the cause of infection than you do, so why are you laughing at what I told you to do? I've just spent three days being ignored and insulted by them" I pointed at the snotty elves "because I'm not as experienced at healing as they are, even though you asked me to come yourself, and I do not appreciate being laughed at by you either!" I snapped angrily. I had just spent three days slaving over that darn case of herbs and being mocked for following basic hygiene rules was not making me happy. "For your information, the cause of infection is too small to see. Infection is caused by tiny little living things that no one can see, and if you heat them up enough they die and can't cause any infection."

"How can you know this when you cannot see the 'tiny little living things'?" Elrond asked. It was a perfectly reasonable question considering the fact that microscopes hadn't been invented, but I was exhausted, pissed off, and Elrond was grating on my last nerve. Needless to say, I unleashed my rage on him.

"Because, Mr Wise Guy, you know if you look through a certain shape of glass things that are far away seem closer?" I said sarcastically. Elrond nodded. "Well, where I come from, people have made pieces of glass shaped in a certain way so that you can see things about ten thousand times bigger than they actually are."

"So in order to kill the little infection causers, I needed to heat the metal?" I rolled my eyes. My tiredness and grumpiness was making it hard for me to understand that Elrond would have difficulty grasping the fact that people where I came from actually knew that sort of thing. So I snapped at him when I really shouldn't have.

"Jeez, that's what I've been telling you! Now that Frodo is better, I'm going to go sleep!" I said crossly, and walked out of the House of Healing.

When I got back to my room, I had to sneak back in so that I didn't wake Caeli up. What I didn't expect was for her not to be there, and instead for Legolas to be sitting on my bed waiting for me. I took one look at him and sat down on the floor, tears leaking out of my eyes and down my face.

"What's wrong, Ariel? Caeli said that you would be happy when you got back tonight," Legolas said softly, hugging me. I hugged him back.

"I'm just stressed and I was mean to Elrond so he'll probably never teach me healing again and it's so hard trying to explain medicine and technology to people here," I sobbed. Once I had calmed down, I realised that I had better things to do with my time than be miserable. So I looked up at Legolas' concerned face and kissed him. After all, it was the most enjoyable way I could think of to tell him I was feeling better

**Caeli's POV**

It was the morning of October the 23rd and I was crossly contemplating why on earth I hadn't taken up healing like Ariel. She was allowed to help look after Frodo just because she could remember some the names of weirdly shaped bottles. OK, it was a bit more than that but that's how it felt. I had only had one glimpse of a very ill looking hobbit as he came into Rivendell. I didn't even know what he looked like although Ariel told me he was more or less like Frodo from the film. I know it was a bit stupid wanting to see him because he was unconscious and couldn't exactly talk to me but it was more like a celebrity thing. I mean, the world's most famous hobbit was only a few buildings away, he was the main focus of the books, like ultra-cool and I so wanted his autograph!

Anyway, I was sitting under a tree (in the same position you first see Frodo in the film – I think it was starting to have a deep psychological impact on me) feeling jealous of Ariel when I suddenly a burst of activity behind me. There were elves rushing around fetching blankets and shouting to each other. Confused, I ran up to see what was going on. Most of the elves were shouting in elvish so I had no idea what they were saying but I caught one word 'Estel'. _Estel… that means Aragorn's arrived at last with the hobbits and... _Without pausing to think any longer I ran after the rest of the elves, pushing through the crowd until I came to the road into Rivendell. There, surrounded by excited elves was a man with rugged brown hair, three very short people… and an elf with golden hair.

"Glorfindel!" I squealed as I ran up to him and flung my arms round him. I suddenly started to feel a bit tearful, I mean I knew that in the Glorfindel comes back fine but I had something at the back of my mind that our coming to Middle-earth meant that something might be changed. So far though it seemed that everything was going just fine.

"I missed you," whispered Glorfindel as gently stroked my hair and kissed my head. I could immediately tell something was different about him, he was suddenly quieter than he had been before he went away. I looked at him.

"Are you ok?" I asked him frowning.

"Fine, I'm fine, don't worry, I just a little tired." he replied, smiling at me reassuringly and kissing my again. I could tell that he was more than a little tired but I let it pass and hugged him.

"So this must be Caeli," said a deep voice from behind me. I turned round and saw Aragorn for the first time. Aragorn looked the least like the film version to any of the other characters that I had met. He looked sort of… noble, it's hard to explain but if you looked into his eyes you could tell he was someone important. It was hard to believe the people of Bree thought he was just a ranger. Yes, by his general appearance you could tell that he didn't live in a palace but there was definitely also a quiet, confident dignity in him. I smiled at him.

"Yes, I'm Caeli," I said and then realised I wasn't quite sure what to do, what do you do when you meet the future king of most of the rest of the world? Curtsy? Shake hands? Give him a hug? Hive five?

"I've heard a lot about you," he said.

"Good things I hope," I said nervously.

"Of course," said Glorfindel wrapping his arms around my waist. "I've told him where you come from as well,"

"A remarkable place it seems," he said.

"Yeah," I said, restraining myself from talking about it, Aragorn was being very polite talking to me but I have never seen a more tired looking guy.

"Estel!" called Elrond's voice.

"Excuse me," said Aragorn "I hope we will meet again soon when I am better rested, it was a pleasure to meet you." he nodded to me and then Glorfindel and then went to greet Elrond.

"You should go and rest as well," I said turning back to Glorfindel.

"I'll be fine, I will go and see how Frodo's doing,"

"No, you're going to rest because I'm willing to bet that you haven't had any in a week or two,"

"I'm an elf my love, I don't need any," he insisted.

"Wrong, you don't need a lot but you do need some!" I said crossly.

"I'm fine!"

"Oh yeah right, are you trying to tell me that I don't know when you're fine and when you're not because-"

"No I'm not trying to tell you anything save that it was may duty to bring Frodo here and so now I'd like to see how he's doing,"

"He's fine, well at least he will be, Ariel's making sure everything goes fine-"

"How's she?"

"EVERYONE IS FINE!" I shouted, this elf honestly worried too much "everyone apart from you," I continued more calmly "and you need to get some REST!"

"Are you ok? You seem-"

"I WILL BE FINE! As long as you get some rest, you don't even know how tired you look." he looked down at me resignedly.

"Ok, I'll go and have a rest and then I'll look in on the hobbit, happy?" he said. I smiled.

"Very," I said and hugged him again before letting him go and rest.

I was briefly introduced to the other three hobbits who were very sweet but it was all too obvious they were thoroughly exhausted and they to went to go get some sleep. I spent the rest of the day in what had come to be a default location for me when I was bored: the training grounds. There I found Legolas and we discussed the unfairness of having relationships with people who seemed to be constantly busy saving the world. As a consequence of this unfair treatment we decided that it would be best if we got together and so we spent the rest of the afternoon snogging- just kidding :D.

That night I was sleeping peacefully in my bed when I felt someone shaking me. I opened my eyes, it was still dark. _What the hell? _I thought

"Hmm," I grumbled as I rolled over. "Ariel if-"

"Its me," said Glorfindel's voice quietly.

"Huh?" I mumbled slowly and yawned. "Wadda you want?" I asked stretching and sitting up in my bed.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"Glorfindel it's…" I began but stopped realising that I didn't actually know what time it was.

"The middle of the night yes I know, I'm sorry to wake you," something was odd in his voice.

"What's wrong?" I asked groggily.

"Can we go outside? I don't want to disturb Ariel when she comes back,"

"Sure, wait, let me just…" I grabbed a blanket and wrapped it round myself and then followed him outside.

"It's a lovely night don't you think?" he asked when we were finally settled on a bench. He was sitting at one side of it and I huddled in my blanket at the other. I looked up, the stars were all shinning and there wasn't cloud in sight.

"Yeah, yeah sure its nice," I agreed, slightly puzzled.

"I always feel sorry for you because as a mortal you need to sleep during the night, you miss all this," he said, gesturing to the general night. I looked around. The night definitely had a beautiful silence to it which was very different to the night back home with the cars and the street lamps all around.

"'suppose it is a shame," I said and yawned again. He was silent for a while then said suddenly.

"He was supposed to, wasn't he? Get stabbed I mean."

"Glorfindel dear you're not making any sense," I said and drew my blanket round me.

"In your books, or the moving pictures, does Frodo get stabbed?" he asked.

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you," I said reluctantly.

"It's past, already happened, I can't change the past," he said. I considered for a moment.

"Yeah, yeah he did, and you gallantly get him back to Rivendell." I said smiling. "You're worried that things are going to go wrong aren't you?" he nodded. I sighed and took his hand. "Well worrying won't change anything, you've just got to… decide what to do with the time that is given to you and… and the situation you're given. You've got four hobbits, one with something very valuable and you've got a very nasty guy in Mordor who wants that valuable thing back and will do anything to get it and then take over the world. None of these things are your fault, you've just got to make the best of what you've got, and do the best you can with it. I know you'll be fine, don't worry." he pulled me over to him sighed.

"I won't," he whispered.

The next day (or perhaps the same day) I went to visit Frodo with Glorfindel having heard the news from Ariel that he was now conscious. I did actually get an autograph from Frodo even though he couldn't work out why I wanted him to write his name on a slip of paper, oh and I also got an autograph from Gandalf the Grey. I've lyke met so many lyke really cool people don't 'ya think?

Seriously though, Gandalf is very cool guy, the first time he met me he gave me a huge hug! He's so sweet and informal and friendly it's actually really easy to forget he's god from Valinor. You can just chat with for hours and totally forget he's actually an OAP but without the pension. So he's an OA. I explained to him all about pensions and he thought it was a great idea and that he would certainly invest he were in my world.

I also got to talk to Aragorn properly for the first time. He's a very serious guy but also incredibly sweet. You get the feeling you can tell him anything and if you asked him he would never tell another living soul as long as he lived. I could see the sadness in his eyes when I told him that there were still wars my world and have been for thousands of years. I think he's one of those people who believe that could and should be world peace and is kinda slightly shell-shocked when they realise that there isn't. He'd made a good hippie.

In the afternoon I quite literally crashed into Boromir. I was looking down at a new dress that I was wearing. Both Ariel and I had been strictly told by Elrond that if we were to be attending a council we were to be properly attired and thus I was plonked in a new green dress with leaf print round the hem. I had difficulty tying ribbon at the front, which was what I had been adjusting when I walked straight into Boromir.

"My apologies, I wasn't looking were I going," he said quickly.

"Neither was I," I said smiling. "You must be Boromir,"

"Yes I am, news evidently travels fast here."

"Like the wind,"

"Could I inquire your name?"

"I'm so sorry, how rude of me," yes, I was trying to learn manners remember! "My name's Caeli,"

"A pleasure to meet you Miss Caeli," he said bowing slightly.

"Please, just call me Caeli," I said quickly.

"Whatever you wish," he replied. Then I noticed he was carrying a little scrap of paper with some arrows on it.

"Can I help you?" I asked, every inch the lady.

"I believe I have been allotted a room. I was given this map by an elf named Erestor but I'm afraid I'm lost." he said apologetically. I bent over to look at the map. It was a typically over complicated version of Rivendell.

"Typical Erestor," I muttered and Boromir chuckled. "Umm, I think I know which block he's trying to point you in the direction of, I'll see if I can take you there,"

"Thank you," he said. I took him around to where Erestor seemed to be indicating.

"Right it's the, one… two… three… fourth room on the map." I said, "That would be… this one!" I finished, perhaps somewhat too triumphantly and opened the door.

"Thank you for your time, I hope we'll meet again," he said then kissed my hand. I was so shocked I entirely forgot to do a little curtsey as I had been taught and instead I just gave him a weak smile and headed for the exit. All in all I reckoned, for my first proper try of being a lady, not all that bad (if you excuse the rather hurried finale).

That evening there was a feast in the great hall and table was laden with food on silver platters. I thoughtfully munched pink fish as I looked around. Everyone was here, Elrond at the head of the table with Arwen in the centre and the twins either side of her. Aragorn was next to Elrohir, the hobbits were together, Gimli and Gloin either side of them. On my side of the table we seemed to operating a male-female-male-female policy, (every other person was female and thus the other every other person was male). Another policy that seemed to be in operation across the whole table was that the couples weren't together: Elrohir wasn't with the seamstress, Arwen wasn't with Aragorn, Legolas wasn't with Ariel and I was sandwiched between Boromir and Lindir, not that I was complaining as Lindir hates pink fish and loaded all his onto my plate.

After the feast we all went to the hall of fire as usual but we had a more diverse kinda medley of songs than just the usual hymns. I went over to my favourite corner and lay down on my back and look up at the ceiling. This had almost become a trademark position for me now over the months. The music floated over me as a gentle hum of elvish words and the sound of the lyre.

Suddenly I heard Glorfindel's name in the words. I sat up suddenly and looked around. Everyone had sad expressions on their faces. _Oh! _It finally dawned on me (perhaps a little too much drink at dinner, well, it was a feast!) this was of course the song of Glorfindel, one of many if I could believe the twins. _If I could actually have been bothered to learn elvish I would understand what they're singing right now. _I looked around for Glorfindel to be my translator but he didn't seem to be in the room. I frowned, he generally liked the music in the hall of fire.

"If you were looking for Glorfindel, he's gone outside," Erestor said from next to me. I thanked and quietly walked out. I found him at last, sitting cross-legged under a tree with his eyes closed.

"Glorfindel?" I said cautiously. "Are you ok?"

"Hello," he said. _Someone's sociable._ I sat beside him and put my head on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and circled an arm round my waist.

"Why did you leave?" I asked.

"I don't hearing about my own death," he said simply.

"Makes sense," I paused "What do they say?" I asked finally, my curiosity getting the better of me."

"Well, they start of generally praising me in ridiculously over the top ways as they do in songs, that alone is embarrassing to hear; then they out line my life and skip through it at an a amazing speed then they spend a few hours describing in detail how I died." he said glumly.

"I would hate to hear people singing about my death," I commented.

"To be honest, you're not likely to hear anyone singing about your death my dear so you're ok."

"Hmm," I said stretching and yawning. "Why don't they sing happy songs? Why is it all about dead people and Gods?"

"I'm not dead," he protested.

"You're the exception," I said.

"Well, they do sometimes sing about war victories but with all victories comes death, so the songs end up sad,"

"Hmm," I answered. We listened to the distant voices of the elves for some time and enjoyed the evening breeze.

"Are you coming to the council?" he asked after a while "Or shouldn't I have said anything,"

"Technically speaking… you shouldn't have said anything because it's a secret council, but Elrond is too busy to kill you this evening and I'm going anyway so it's ok really."

"That's good then," he said "Can pick up tomorrow?"

"Please do," I replied. He turned around and kissed me.

"Good," he said with a smile.

The next morning I was awoken by a knock on the door. _Huh? Oh… 25th… council… Glorfindel… _I rolled out of bed stretched.

"Gimme a minute, I've got to get this dress on that Elrond gave me specially for the council," I called.

"Ariel!" I shouted and threw a pillow at her.

"Hmm" she murmured, then, silence.

"ARIEL GET UP!" I shouted.

"WHAT!" she said suddenly sitting up and glaring at me.

"25th? Council? Morning? Get up?" I suggested.

"Council? Of…Elrond? Now?" she asked.

"That's the one, wakey wakey," I said smiling sweetly and throwing a dress at her.

"And it's going to start in half an hour!" came a voice from the other side of the door, NOT Glorfindel's.

"Half and hour!" squealed Ariel, almost falling out of bed "We've gotta get dressed!"

"You're not Glorfindel!" I said crossly and strode over to the door and opened it. It was Elladan.

"He was delayed, asked me to come instead and…" he suddenly stopped and closed his eyes.

"What?" I said puzzled. Then I realised that I was half undressed. "Oh," I said and quickly closed the door. _Please let the earth swallow me…_

"Yes, ummm, he asked me to tell you he's really sorry…" Elladan continued from outside as I grabbed my dress and pulled it over my head.

"…and so I'm going to take you to the council instead, Legolas is coming in a minute for Ariel," he finished.

"So we're all getting escorts now?" said Ariel as she fiddled with the ribbon at the back of her corset. I sighed and went over to help her.

"Yup, special occasion this," I answered.

"I see your not wearing the corset," said Ariel in mock disapproval gesturing to the abandoned corset on my bed.

"No, I've decided I hate corsets and anyway the only person I would want to impress is Glorfindel and he loves me just the way I am – sans corset!"

"You stole that line from Bridget Jones!" accused Ariel as she began attacking her hair with a hairbrush.

"Bridget Jones didn't wear CORSETS!" I said as I begun to do the same.

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" she yelled back

"WHAT IS THE POINT?" I asked whilst trying to fasten back a stray strand of hair.

"THE POINT IS… I don't know…" Ariel finished in a small voice. We both burst out laughing.

"Are you two ready yet?" asked Legolas impatiently.

"Legolas!" shouted Ariel and hurried through the door that I had just opened and gave Legolas a big hug and a morning kiss.

"You look lovely," he said adoringly to her. I coughed. "As do you Caeli, of course," I smiled and took Elladan's arm and off we went to the council.

"So, why was Glorfindel delayed?" I asked Elladan on the way to the council.

"Arguments about the seating plan, seems no one wants to sit next to the dwarves and he has to try and create peace. Oh, and quite a number elf lords from various places want to sit next to him, but he has to explain politely to them that he has only one available side," grinned Elladan.

"Only one?" I questioned.

"Well, for some reason he insists on sitting next to you, can't imagine why," said Elladan smiling innocently. I smiled to myself, God bless Glorfindel.

At last we arrived at the council meeting place. It wasn't exactly like the film. It was outdoors as in the film but it was inside a huge white gazebo. Around the edge there were chairs in a huge circle, bigger that in the film. In the middle of the gazebo I spotted Glorfindel surrounded by elf lords in expensive looking clothes all pointing chairs and shouting at one another.

Glorfindel caught sight of me and smiled. He signalled to the other elves that he would just be a moment and came over to me and put his arms round me.

"There are no words to describe how unaccommodating these people are, really," he sighed.

"Aww, and Glorfindel being the biggest elf lord of them all has to sort them out?" I said in a baby voice. He playfully swatted at me.

"It seems so,"

"Why don't you just put everyone in alphabetical order by name and say that they have to sit there like it or not!" I suggested.

"Like library books?" he laughed.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well, it's a good idea but Glorfindel is not next to Caeli in the alphabet," he said.

"I know," I said playing with his hair, "but if they're not willing to comprise," I said looking at the elves behind him "then we're gonna have to," I said with a smile.

"I'll go and tell them," his said kissing my head. Most of the elf lords did not look very impressed when he told them, Elrond however seemed to think it was an immensely funny idea and I couldn't help agreeing with him as everyone tried to find their seats.

"What are you doing?" came Ariel voice from behind me.

"Alphabetical order, I know you can't be with Legolas but-"

"That's not what I mean!" she said urgently.

"What's the problem, are you ok? Are you next to freak or summin?" I asked, slightly worried at her tone of voice.

"No, you're changing things, they weren't in alphabetical order in the book or the film, if Frodo's not next to Gandalf he might not…"

"Oh my god you're right…" I said starting to panic "Ok, ok, its ok, I'll tell Glorfindel…" I said quickly. I rushed of to find Glorfindel who was directing people into their seats.

"What is it?" he asked at once after seeing my face.

"It wasn't like this in the books," I whispered. "It might be really important that everyone is in the right place…" he looked at me for a moment, thinking.

"Well, you made the best decision you could given the situation right? It was only because you were here in the first place that we had the whole row about the seating plan, and you can't help that, it's ok, it'll be ok, alright?" he assured me. I nodded. "Ok, well you're between Boromir and Elladan, have fun!"

I went and took my place between them and tried to relax. _Ok, this is all going to be ok, everything is gonna work out fine…_

The council began with Elrond telling Frodo to show the ring to the council. The hobbit walked into the centre of the room and placed a small gold band on the stone table in the middle then timidly returned to his seat. I sighed, so this was what all the fuss was about, it was tiny really, even less significant looking than Peter Jackson's ring. As I contemplated how odd it was that any one as powerful as Sauron should want such a small thing I noticed the deafening silence that had fallen on the room. All eyes were on the ring an everyone seemed to be lost in their on world.

I looked back at the ring of power. To be honest, I realised that I didn't want it, well it wasn't that I had any bad feelings towards it, I felt kinda neutral. To me it was just a golden ring on table. I hadn't really thought about what effect it might have on me before but it seemed that so far it didn't seem to be having any.

I looked over at Ariel and she looked at me and shrugged, she obviously didn't feel any deep attraction to the ring either. In a way I was disappointed, I wanted to understand what it was like, why everyone wanted the have the ring.

"This is why we are here." everyone suddenly sat upright in shock at Elrond's words cut the silence. "This is the cause of our trouble. Each of you, elves, dwarves, hobbits, men, each of have come for a different reason. Some to bring news, some to seek counsel, and some" he said and looked directly and me and Ariel, "some seem to be here by chance," I looked down at the ground, feeling about a hundred pairs on eyes on me and I knew Ariel felt the same. "So," Elrond continued, "let us first hear every one's tale."

It was a bit like circle time when you were five years old. Everyone in turn stood up and told their story. Suddenly, the dwarves had finished the telling of the story of their rings and it my turn. I swallowed and stood up putting my hand behind my back.

"Umm, Ariel," I said quietly. I heard here get up behind me and come and stand next to me. "What do we say?" I asked.

"I dunno, tell them everything," she whispered back.

"You start," I said quickly.

"Ok," she whispered back, but you've got to finish.

"Fair enough," I answered and shot a glare at Glorfindel who looked like he was about to laugh, yes we knew we looked stupid and scared but we didn't need to be told it! Ariel cleared her throat.

"This will be hard to believe so if you could… please… ladies and gentlemen… erm, actually only gentlemen… ummm, use you're imaginations…" Ariel began rather shyly but soon gained confidence as she talked about our world that she knew and loved. When she had finished describing warfare in our world she seemed to think that she had described enough and nudged me.

"Ok, now you tell them about how we got here," she whispered and so I launched into the story of how we were camping, and the storm and tent and then how we arrived in Middle- earth.

"And so now we're here and we just want to make sure that everything goes as it did in our book back at home… and that's it really, thank you," I ended and we both walked quickly back to our seats.

"Well done," whispered Elladan "That wasn't bad,"

"Thank you, I was terrified," I answered. The rest of the circle told their story and then it was into the discussion of what to do with the ring.

"We only have two choices," said Glorfindel, "We must send it over the sea to Valinor and the grace of Eru or destroy it here in Middle-earth,"

"We cannot send it over the sea, it is for Middle-earth and those who live here to decide what to do with it," said Elrond.

"Then, as Glorfindel said, we have but one choice, destroy it," said Gandalf. That was when the argument began. Some said that it would be best in Valinor where it would be safe, some said that it should be hidden far away from Sauron's eye. Boromir, as in the books and the film was convinced that Gondor should have it and use it for good. The discussion seamed to last hours until suddenly they were all standing up and shouting at each other.

I winced and covered my ears. Then I realised _shouting… Frodo… ring…_ it was now! I looked over to Ariel, she was looking at Frodo. I looked at Frodo he was sitting in his chair doing nothing. _Come one Frodo, you can do it, take the ring… please…_ he still didn't do anything. I started to panic, what if he decided not to because Gandalf wasn't sitting next to him, and it would be all my fault?

Right now I was quite prepared to grab the dear little hobbit by the scruff of the neck, plonk him in the middle of the room and force him to take the ring. I looked at Ariel, she looked at me and I could tell she was ready to do the same thing, but still Frodo did nothing. Ariel beckoned me over she was looked panicky and Aragorn sitting next to her looked equally concerned for her.

"Ok, its gonna be ok," I told her.

"Caeli, I can't breathe enough," she said in a small voice.

"Just take slow breaths as deep as you can, otherwise you'll faint like I did, ok?" I said but inside I was just as panicked as she was, if Frodo didn't take the ring the whole world would just… go down the drain basically. _Oh my god oh my god oh my god _was all I could think, things were going totally wrong.

Then, just when I thought maybe it would be better if I fainted I heard a small voice behind me:

"I will take it, I will take the ring… though I… don't know the way,"

There was silence suddenly. I collapsed on the floor and began to cry. I so relieved. I buried my face in my hands and cried into dress. _Thank Eru for hobbits… thank Eru…_

I heard the voices of the fellowship one by one pledging their allegiance to Frodo and the quest but it was as if they were far away. All I could feel was relief that it was all happening. I heard Legolas go up, then Gimli and even though I couldn't actually see them because I was crying too much, I could see the look they were giving each other from the film and laughed to myself. Then it was the hobbit's turn and just as in the film they all came out of their hiding places, I felt same brush by me and I just cried even more.

Then I heard a voice I didn't expect: Ariel's.

"I… will also… do my best… to help Frodo on his quest," I looked up suddenly in shock. There in front of my eyes was Ariel, walking up to join the rest of the fellowship in the middle of the room.

"Ariel?" I said quietly. She nodded at me.

"Someone needs to make sure everything goes fine," she said.

"Ariel, you can't do this," said Legolas.

"There can't be a woman in the fellowship!" protested Erestor.

"If she's going I am!" I declared scrambling to my feet in a most undignified way. I ran up to her but Elrond caught me on the way.

"No, Caeli," he said firmly. "I see Ariel's reasoning, and although I know that she disagrees that there maybe any purpose for you two girls here in Middle-earth, I am not willing to take the chance that there is, and have you two not fulfil it." No one spoke.

"But she doesn't know how to fight or survive or-" began Erestor.

"Neither do the hobbits," said Elrond calmly. "The fellowship must be formed for reasons of companionship, I believe that Ariel will get along well with all the fellowship, Legolas especially,"

"Then why can't I go? I'm her friend!" I protested.

"Only one of you needs to go to ensure that the quest runs as it does it does in your book, Ariel is the elder of you-"

"By ONE MONTH!" I shouted.

"And also," Elrond continued ignoring my outburst, "Legolas is in the fellowship for her, if you left I know it would be very hard for Glorfindel and-"

"I know, I know but…" I looked at Glorfindel's face and then started crying all over again. I ran into his arms and he hugged me. "What shall I do?" I whispered to him.

"I will support you in whatever you do, but… stay, please stay," he whispered back. I sniffed and rested my head on his chest.

"I'm staying," I announced. Glorfindel hugged me closer and I could see tears streaming down Ariel's face.

"Very well then, this is the fellowship of the ring, may Eru bless you," said Elrond.

I looked at the ten of them, together in the centre of the gazebo, the fellowship of the ring, and I wasn't one of them.

* * *

sniffs That was actually quite emotional to write… I feel sad sobs.

Well, we have reached (finally) a very scary place sniff: the book. From now on, we have to do what Tolkien tells us to do, which could prove difficult, so please bear with us and review every step of the way!

Tin: Ala, don't forget to tell them that we love them!

Ala: Oh yeah, I forgot. We love you all!


	21. Chapter 21

Ariel: We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Orthanc!

Caeli: Who really needs to bleach his beard.

Ariel/quickly plaits Saruman's beard with a tartan ribbon/

Saruman: OI!

Ala: You know, what he really needs is bunches… /ties Saruman's hair into two high bunches/

Tin: And fake freckles/uses eyeliner pencil to draw freckles on Saruman/

Saruman/hides behind palantir/

Gandalf: Saruman, you're a disgrace to wizardkind, hiding from four teenage girls like that/sees what they've done to Saruman/ Ah. Ok. Um… /runs/

Tin's pot plant: I WILL RULE THE WORLD!

Tin: Ok, that was random… /pot plant shrugs/ Wait… how the hell can a plant shrug?

Tin's pot plant: Like this/demonstrates/

Tin: Uh, yeah, ok, whatever. Anyway, much as I wish I did, I don't own Lord of the Rings (who would want to anyway? He's just a massive eyeball) and neither does Ala. But I DO own my pot plant, sadly, (pot plant: OI!) and me and Ala share ownership of Ariel and Caeli.

Tin's pot plant: Oh congratulations… I think you might have managed a three syllable word just then… (Tin: OI!)

**Chapter 21**

**Ariel POV**

After spending three days helping smush up herbs to save greenish, half-dead hobbit, I slept for the whole of the 24th. I woke up when Caeli came in and shoved an apple down my throat, saying that I wasn't allowed to go a whole day without eating anything, and while I summoned up the energy to eat the apple she told me all about the members of the Fellowship that I'd met. I laughed when she told me that Aragorn would have made a good hippy – sure, in the books and the movies he looked like a friendly, peace-liking sort of guy, but personally I thought that he'd killed way too many orcs to be able to honestly walk around saying 'peace, dude'. I told Caeli that and we spent a happy few minutes imagining Aragorn walking up to the Mouth of Sauron wearing a toga and holding a bunch of flowers instead of a sword, and saying 'peace, dude!' Yeah, sure, as far as I know hippies don't wear togas, but it was a funny picture.

"You are so lucky," we both complained at the same time. I'd just told her about smushing herbs to care for the greenish, half-dead hobbit, and she'd told me all about the people she'd met.

"Me? I spent three days squashing herbs and being ignored by a bunch of elves who were seriously peeved that I existed!" I said incredulously. "How is that lucky? You spent three days meeting the Fellowship and snogging your boyfriend!"

"But you got to meet Frodo!" she said jealously. I stared at her.

"Point one: he was unconscious. Point two: he was green. And point three: I spent three days with elves who hate me!" Caeli shrugged.

"Still, I wish I'd learnt healing instead of you," she told me. I rolled my eyes.

"So you wish you could have spent weeks learning names of dried bits of plant instead of spending weeks with Glorfindel?" I asked. Caeli shook her head sheepishly. "Unless, of course, you have a crush on Elrond…" I let the sentence hang. Caeli whacked me with a pillow. Obviously, this provoked a pillow fight, and Caeli beat me easily. Of course, the fact that she stole all my pillows probably didn't help me.

The next morning, Legolas and Elladan escorted us to the council. According to Elrond, there was no way that we could go to the super-wonderful Council of Elrond in our usual dresses. I did protest, and try to convince him to let me wear my pink one that I had got for my birthday, but it didn't work. At least I got a pretty red dress out of it.

"Bring forth the ring, Frodo," Elrond said majestically. The shy hobbit (no longer green) reluctantly stood up and put the ring on the little stone table. I rolled my eyes as I saw the blank, almost drooling expressions of nearly everyone in the room. I didn't know why, but the ring just didn't hold any interest for me at all. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. Every time I looked at the ring, I felt an incredible sense of boredom. The sort of boredom that only occurred in maths classes which discussed Pythagoras or circle theorems. The sort of boredom that made me want to slit my wrists or fall asleep, but I was so bored that I couldn't.

_Maybe the boredom is the effect that the ring has on me and Caeli too, judging by her expression. So instead of making us love the ring and go crazy wanting it, it makes us hate it and go crazy from boredom._

Once everyone had told their story of why they were there, why they were the most wonderful people in the world, and why they should have the ring, etc, Elrond looked at me and Caeli expectantly. Caeli made me start our story of where we came from. I always had, and always would hate speaking in public. When I made a speech, my voice always went squeaky and I always realised I had nothing important to say. At least this time, it was easier, because I just needed to talk about home. I told people the basics of home: the way that we used machines all the time, the type of government we had, the everyday things that people did, like school, and then I told them about the two world wars. Everyone looked suitably horrified when I told them about the first world war, where there wasn't a real reason for it to happen, but their faces were so shocked it was almost funny when I told them about world war two, the Nazis, and all the horrible things that they did. Once I'd finished shocking them all, Caeli finished off by telling everyone how we got to Middle-earth.

"Your world sounds very interesting," Aragorn whispered to me. "If you have time, would you tell me more about it?" I nodded, smiling at him. I'd talked to him for a while before the Council actually started, seeing as Caeli had made us sit in alphabetical order. It had been quite funny, actually, the fuss she had made about Frodo and Gandalf needing to sit together. I'd had to repress the urge to roll my eyes and say 'Duh, what letter comes after F for Frodo? G for Gandalf! You are the weakest link! Goodbye!" but I'd bitten back the comment.

Elrond quickly decided that the ring had to be destroyed by dumping it in Mount Doom.

_Feed it to a hobbit! Feed it to a hobbit! Feed it to a hobbit! I mean, wouldn't hobbit stomach acid destroy the ring? Or at least, just take eagle express over to Mordor and drop the ring in the top of the volcano! Seriously, these people are idiots!_

Everyone started fighting over who would take the ring, and I sighed. I looked over at Caeli and crossed my eyes, sticking my tongue out. She returned the expression and we both giggled. Then when she started panicking and looking at Frodo, I giggled harder, realising that she honestly hadn't noticed that Gandalf was sitting next to Frodo like he was supposed to. I decided to play along and pretended to start panicking.

"Are you alright, Ariel?" Aragorn asked concernedly.

"I'm fine, but Caeli hasn't realised that her seating plan has worked out the way it was supposed to in the movie. So she's panicking, and to be honest I just want to see her face when she realises that Gandalf is sitting there right next to Frodo like he's supposed to. So, in the name of making Caeli more observant in future, could you pretend to be worried about me?" I asked. Aragorn grinned, then pretended to look worried when Caeli looked over at us. She came over to try and comfort me and I pretended to panic.

"I will take it… though I do not know the way," a small voice said. Caeli, for some reason, started crying. One by one, Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Gimli, and the hobbits joined the Fellowship.

_Shall I go? No, I can't, because I'm not in the book. But there has to be some reason for us being here. And I can heal, so that might be useful. And I really don't want to let Legolas leave for three months. But on the other hand, I don't want to leave Caeli here. But if I go, she'll come too, so that wouldn't be a problem, I guess. So, I suppose the pros of going definitely outweigh the cons._

"I will also do my best to help Frodo on his quest," I said, walking up to the Fellowship.

"There can't be a woman in the Fellowship!" declared Erestor. I glared at him, already planning to get him back for that blatant little piece of sexism.

"If she's going I am!" Caeli said, coming over. I grinned, then my face fell when Elrond stopped her.

"No, Caeli," he said firmly. "I see Ariel's reasoning, and although I know that she disagrees that there maybe any purpose for you two girls here in Middle-earth, I am not willing to take the chance that there is, and have you two not fulfil it." No one spoke.

"But she doesn't know how to fight or survive or-" began Erestor. I glared at him.

_Ariel's guide of how to survive. 1)Breathe. 2)Have a heartbeat. 3)Eat. 4)Beat up Erestor for instant mood boost, warding off depression/suicide._

"Neither do the hobbits," said Elrond calmly. "The fellowship must be formed for reasons of companionship, I believe that Ariel will get along well with all the fellowship, Legolas especially."

_That's me, Little Miss Friendly! And it goes without saying that I get on well with the guy I love._

"Then why can't I go? I'm her friend!" Caeli protested. I wished that she wouldn't, because it was obvious that Elrond wasn't going to be changing his mind any time soon.

"Only one of you needs to go to ensure that the quest runs as it does it does in your book, Ariel is the elder of you-"

"By ONE MONTH!" Caeli shouted. I started crying – it was hard enough to know that I was going off on a quest that had a high chance of me not surviving, but Caeli's insistence to come too when I could see that she wouldn't be allowed gave me that horrible feeling of having a numb, painful spot in my chest where my heart should have been.

In the end, Caeli said that she was staying, and we were announced as the Fellowship of the Ring. I made a mental note to talk to Elrond about that title later – I was definitely not a fellow, and didn't really appreciate being labelled as one.

After the council, the Fellowship plus me (even though I knew that I was part of the Fellowship, it was still hard to think of the Fellowship as having me in it) stayed behind to talk.

"Miss Ariel, are you a lady or a princess in your home? Because everyone else in this Fellowship seems to be someone important. I mean, there's the Elven Prince, then Lord Boromir and Lord Aragorn, then Mr Gimli's father went with Mr Bilbo, and Mr Merry and Mr Pippin are part of important families in the Shire, and Mr Frodo's the ringbearer, and Gandalf's a wizard… I was just wondering," Sam asked me nervously. I shook my head.

"Nope, I'm just plain old ordinary Ariel. No fancy titles or anything," I reassured him, and he looked slightly happier. I supposed it was quite intimidating when you thought about it, because me and Sam were really the only ones with fancy names. "And I'm definitely glad I don't have a title, because in my country, all the lords and ladies and the royal family wear really, really stupid hats all the time. So if I was royalty I'd have to wear a hat and that would not be fun," I told him.

"Ariel, why do you want to be part of this? You know what is going to happen, you know that we will probably have to fight," Legolas asked sadly.

"I know what's going to happen, so I'm coming to make sure that it does. And I'm also coming because there's no way that you're going off without me. And if I'm not mistaken, the main point of this Fellowship is to protect Frodo, and me being able to heal has already helped save him once. And seeing as he's only been here four days, that's not a bad track record for me," I told him. Most of the Fellowship, except for Legolas, looked confused by my choice of vocabulary.

"Track record?" Boromir asked.

"I meant that… I can't change it exactly into the way you guys speak, but it basically means that I'm not doing too badly. It's just an expression. I have a lot of weird expressions, so you might as well get used to them," I said apologetically.

"What country is your… England… most like? Rohan or Gondor?" Boromir asked curiously.

_Oh yippee. How to explain that I might be from the future of one of them and I have no idea which one?_

"It's not all that much like either of them. It's kind of a mix of both, but the countryside parts a few hundred years ago were quite like the Shire. There's cities like in Gondor, but there used to be lots of fields and forests like in Rohan. There was this thing called the Industrial Revolution when people suddenly started using machines to do things that people had done, and since then the world is very different to how it was before," I told them. "So… does anyone feel like telling me about their countries?"

I spent a nice couple of hours listening to descriptions of dwarven mines and Minas Tirith and the Shire, and then everyone drifted off to have dinner. I wasn't very hungry though, so I stayed sitting there, enjoying the peaceful company of Legolas and Gandalf.

"Gandalf, can I ask you something?" I asked suddenly. Gandalf looked at me.

"Of course," he said, smiling. He was very grandfatherly, and I grinned back at him.

"Well, I was wondering… what's Valinor like? I mean, I'm never going to go there obviously, because I'm not an elf or a ringbearer, so I was wondering if you could tell me what it's like?" I asked. Gandalf looked surprised at the question.

_Uh oh… should I have asked that? I mean, how much do most people actually know about where the wizards come from? Because in the stories, the respect that some people give to Gandalf is really not enough for someone who happens to be a god._

"I can certainly try to describe it for you, but it is quite hard to describe," Gandalf said. "Well, Aman is very different from Arda. The first thing one sees when the ship arrives in the harbour is white shores. White, beautiful shores, and beyond that is Aman. The colours are sharper, more beautiful, and everything glows with life, as if it is the very essence of life itself. There are many brilliant sculptures made of a glass so clear it appears silver, and the very air itself is calming," Gandalf said.

"It sounds lovely… like the garden of Eden," I said quietly.

"What is the garden of Eden?" Gandalf asked.

"Paradise. The first few chapters of the Bible – that's a holy book about God – talk about how when God made the world, there were two humans, Adam and Eve, and they lived in a paradise. But then the devil persuaded Eve to eat an apple from the tree which God had told her not to eat from, and Adam ate it too, and so God said they couldn't live in Eden any more and he punished them by sending them out into the world," I said softly. Gandalf smiled.

"That sounds quite like the story of the Elves leaving Aman," he said. "Maybe the stories are about the same place." I nodded.

"Maybe they are. But if Valinor is so much more beautiful than here, in Rivendell, I don't think I could cope with it. It's lovely enough here for me. And I'm not sure I'd want eternal life, either. If I lived forever by going to Valinor, I wouldn't ever see the people I know who've died. And I think that seeing your dead family and friends is the best part of dying," I said.

"I can't pretend to understand the mortal concept of death, because it has never happened to me," Gandalf said thoughtfully. I bit my lip, realising that I was going to have to watch him fall to his death in a few months time. Of course, I also knew that he would come back to life, but watching someone fall to Death-by-Balrog really wasn't something I wanted to do.

**Caeli's POV**

On the night of the 25th Ariel came into our room just before midnight. She'd been in some party thing with the rest of the Fellowship _all celebrating their own greatness I'm sure… I can see the sign on the door 'Admittance to members of the fellowship of the ring only, commoners not allowed'. _Yup, I was feeling, just a touch left out, I mean this was a major thing there were going to go off and save the world and I just had to sit in Rivendell and wait.

"Hey Caeli, I'm back!" she called as she came in at last. I lay still in my bed and said nothing. "I know you're not asleep, Caeli!" she called.

"I'm not," I said shortly with my back to her.

"What's up?" she asked and I heard her coming over to my bed.

"Enjoy the party?" I asked sarcastically.

"What party?" she asked sounding puzzled.

"The great Fellowship lets-get-together-and-become-mates party," I said sullenly.

"Party? That? Heh, in my dreams," she said sitting on the end of my bed.

"Yeah, great, now you're trying to convince me that they're all horrible people so I don't feel bad, great tactics," I said, still not looking at her.

"They're not horrible people, I never said that, they're all lovely people it's just that we spent most of the time going through each other's whole past lives to date, which was… actually really boring," she said.

"It was?" I said in surprise, sitting up and looking at her for the first time since she came into the room.

"Yeah, and there just so… different, you know? I mean we're talking about people who are more likely to attack TV than watch it," she said grinning.

"So?"

"So, I don't know how the hell I'm gonna get through a year minus face-wash discussions! I'll probably go crazy and die of…"

"Zits?" I suggested.

"Exactly!" she said enthusiastically, missing the joke somewhat.

"Hmm,"

"And, I'll miss you…" she said sadly.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too," I replied.

"Sure you don't want to reconsider?" she pleaded.

"Nah, Glorfindel's here, I'm here," I said firmly.

"What about me?" she asked in a small voice. I looked at her.

"I can't be in two places at once, there's only one of me," I said.

"Oh, and Glorfindel needs you more?" she said folding her arms.

"Well-"

"Glorfindel's an elf lord, he loves you but he will accept it if you need to go," she said starting to talker faster "but me, I'm gonna be all alone in a group of nine guys from a DIFFERENT WORLD!" she said, suddenly starting to become upset. She had a point, Glorfindel didn't need me to survive, she needed a friend. Either way I would be hurting someone, Glorfindel or Ariel…

_Or Glorfindel or Ariel…._

_Or Glorfindel or Ariel…_

_Or… this is so unfair! Ok, I'm in doubt… when in doubt eat chocolate… no chocolate… when in doubt…blame someone else_

"Elrond wouldn't let me go anyway," I said.

"You think you need someone's permission to go? There are other ways out of Rivendell other then with the fellowship…" she said mischievously

"You've been planning this haven't you!"

"Well…" she said innocently

"Ok, let's hear the plan," I said.

"You have to say you're going first,"

"But…" _Don't think of Glorfindel don't think of Glorfindel, Middle-earth needs you more… that was such a Mary-Sueish statement you know? Ok Middle-earth might need you more…_. "Have you got a coin on you?" I asked suddenly.

"What on earth for?"

"To flip it," I said.

"Caeli this is a life or death decision! You stay here you live, you go with me you die!" she said. I frowned at her "Well… you might but-," she admitted.

"Exactly, not certainly so you need to flip a coin! Look, just trust me," I said.

"Ok, just don't decide only on the what a stupid coin says," she said as she went to rummage in her bag. She produced a 2p coin and threw it to me.

"Heads you go, tails you don't," she said.

"You still have English money? I thought you changed it all for-"

"Just flip it!" she interrupted.

"Right," I flipped it. It was heads. I smiled.

"I'll go," I said.

"You what?" exclaimed Ariel. "You're making this decision on a coin with even less brain power than me!"

"Well kinda, cause I was glad that it was a head you see, so I wanted to go all a long really,"

"That's clever," she said nodding. "What about Glorfindel?"

"Was part of your plan letting him know or not letting him know?"

"Not," admitted Ariel.

"Probably best," I said sighing… this was gonna be hard. "So, what's the plan?" Trying not to think of Glorfindel for a moment.

"Basically, the fellowship goes first with me, then… this bit's genius," she said grinning. I raised my eyebrows.

"Surprise me," I said.

"I do a Hansel and Gretel!" she announced.

"A what?"

"I leave a trail of bread crumbs! … Or something similar,"

"And then?" I asked, almost afraid to hear what crazy plan my even crazier best friend had come up with. I mentally winced.

"You come after us once everyone has gone back to their own business after seeing us off," she said proudly. I physically winced.

"People will worry about me though, they'll probably send out a search party," I said anxiously.

"Not that far they won't and anyway, you can leave a letter behind explaining why you've gone," she explained. I nodded. "You ok with that?" she asked. I nodded again and tried to smile.

"Good," she said.

Over the next few weeks and months I made myself uncommonly busy (uncommonly busy for me that is). The two most important things on my survival plan were making sure I could swing a sharp pointy object and be able to hit something (preferably thus incapacitating the said something) and getting to know the fellowship. After all is was them who were going to have to pull me out of the numerous uncomfortable situations I felt sure to find myself in.

I found that I could accomplish most these tasks by spending most of the time I wasn't eating or sleeping (actually cancel the eating bit – yay for picnics!) at the training grounds.

The only problem was that most of the fellowship who could fight were training the rest of the fellowship, which as far as they were concerned, didn't include me. But happily the elves where only to keen to help me (read: laugh at my pathetic efforts) from time to time. In my own most humble opinion I was quite improved since I first plonked into Middle-earth uninvited. I now had a chance of surviving fights with such fearsome creatures as turtles, mice, and few species of pigeon.

My usually reliable morning lessons with Glorfindel were now become notably less reliable and even verging on sporadic due to him being otherwise engaged teaching the midgets… hobbits… sorry. However, me being the perfect, understanding person I am I told him that I quite understood the fellowship's needs were greater than my own. This frequently resulted in Glorfindel reflecting on how glad he was that I wasn't in the fellowship and more than once I had become slightly sniffy and upset because its was hard for me to lie to him all the time about something I knew was so important to him. I told him that I was just feeling ill but then Boromir started to think that he had given me some strange Gondorian illness that I had no immunity to… bless his cotton socks, he's gonna murder when he finds out.

Ariel continued her healing lessons and every now and again we would find excuses for me to come and watch so that I at least knew the basics. It was a bit like being a female 007, secretly gathering intelligence on the latest elven healing techniques!

In December we realised that there was something else that we simply had to make happen: Christmas! Of course we found that the elven abode of Rivendell was quite unprepared for its first ever Christmas. It was completely lacking in tinsel, Christmas crackers, electric Rudolfs and singing Santas. But despite our lack of brains and common sense some thing we do not and have never lacked in are creativity, imagination, enthusiasm and volumes of randomness and when planning a Middle-earth Christmas those are the most important ingredients!

"Right so wadda we do?" I asked. We had called council of Christmas in our room,

participants: me and her.

"We need stuff," she said. I looked around our room. "Don't even think about it we need everything in here… namely our beds!"

"Hmm"

"Think outside the box," she said.

"Never understood that phrase," I admitted.

"Neither did I, shame really…" she conceded.

"Wait… the box… I KNOW!" I said jumping up excitedly.

"What?" she said looking up at me quizzically from the floor.

"Seamstress!" I said happily clapping my hands. Ariel's face lit up.

"Right, let's go!" she said scrambling up. We ran all the way to the seamstress and then skidded to a halt outside her door.

"Ok, what are we going to do, we can't just grab stuff then leave," I said

"You distract her, I'll grab stuff and take it out of the back door," she said.

"Deal," I answered. We entered.

"Hey Itarille!" I greeted her.

"Hello Caeli and Ariel," she said sweetly.

"Hi," said Ariel quickly disappearing into the storage room. Itarille looked slightly puzzled by this behaviour _I guess this is where I come in…_

"So… how's Elrohir?" I asked. If elves blushed, she was blushing.

"He's very well…" she smiling. _Guess I'm gonna need to be doing more talking that her… _I took a hopefully not too noticeable deep breath.

"I hear he's training the hobbits to use a sword? Might be at the training grounds right now actually, so sweet those hobbits, totally adorable don't you think? I mean they totally bring out the maternal side in every female, not that I can speak for you fair elves of course but really, doesn't you're heart just melt whenever you see their tiny little arms wielding those huge elven swords, or maybe you haven't been down to the training grounds to see them yet, no? That's a shame I would really recommend it, I always find I learn best from others, what about you? Don't you agree that everyone should always do their best to learn from other people's mistakes? You know, then maybe we could build a better more peaceful world together, the Republic of Heaven like in that book, what's it called? I love that book, its got some really insightful views everything don't you think? Like everything from religion to politics to love to philosophy…" behind her Ariel gave me the thumbs up. "ah well, if you haven't read it don't worry about it, it's been lovely talking to you and I really hope it works out well for you and Elrohir, bye!" I smiled sweetly at her total look of bewilderment and then elegantly exited.

I arrived back in our room to find Ariel in the middle of a huge pile of paper, wool, fabric, ribbons, thread and scissors.

"Wow," I said. She smiled.

"Thank you," she said happily. "What first?"

"Easiest first," I announced and picked up some elven paper and scissors, "Paper chains!"

We spent most of the evenings of December 'making Christmas' as we called. Soon we had a massed a whole load of paper chains, Christmas pom poms, Christmas cards, party hats, Santa hats (yes we can just about sew if you give us a month) and one huge picture of Father Christmas with a sack of presents. Whenever someone came into our room we would kick everything under our beds (one of the advantages of being a girls was that people always knocked before entering… wish it was the same at home).

The fellowship was due to depart on Christmas day in the afternoon… of course they didn't know it was Christmas day… yet.

On Christmas day we both got up early in the morning, even Ariel made a definite effort. First stop was the great hall. We trailed our paper chains in circles all around it and attached a party hat to each chair with a specially decorated one for Elrond. We hung our picture of Santa up at the end of the hall to complete the effect, the whole time giggling hysterically. We decorated a few of our favourite trees with Christmas the pom poms and then rushed back to our room grab Santa hats. We put a hat on each and took some more to plonk on the heads on unsuspecting elves (and maybe hobbits and men if we saw any).

"Ok, you ready?" asked Ariel just before leaving our room.

"Yup," I said

"Right…" she said and then we both whispered together:

"One, two, three..." and then on the count of three we both ran out of out door and screamed to the whole of Rivendell (please bear in mind it was still the very early hours of the morning):

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

"YAY!" I screamed at the top of my voice happily as we ran round Rivendell yelling all the way. "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

"AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!" yelled Ariel

"JOYEUX NOEL!" I shouted whilst crazily spinning round and round in circles.

"GLÜCKLICHES WEIHNACHTEN!" shouted Ariel, joining me. By this time elves were starting to come out of their rooms to gape, frown and otherwise point accusing fingers at us.

"BUON NATALE!" I added.

"No Italian elves!" Ariel shouted at me.

"NO GERMAN ONES EITHER!" I yelled back laughing and jumping and down, generally enjoying the hyperness of our current situation.

"WE WISH YOU A…" began Ariel "come on sing!" she called from the top of a tree she just climbed.

"WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!" we sung together in a beautifully, wonderfully out of tune duet. Ariel decided to finish the song with an elegant but not so thoughtful leap off the tree. Luckily Legolas was there to catch her. Just behind him I spotted Glorfindel.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" I yelled happily as I jumped into his arms and plonked a Santa hat on his head. "You look lovely!" I exclaimed, admiring his elven Father Christmas look.

"Thank you, so do you," he replied looking up at me with a happy just bemused expression on his face. "Now, would you like to explain why-"

"What's Christmas?" asked Elrohir from behind me, he also had a Santa hat on presumably courtesy of Ariel.

"It's when Jesus was born!" laughed Ariel; grabbing Elrohir by the hand and swirling him round and round. "And you've got to see the great hall!" she squealed. By this time there was quite a crowd around us and so we all proceeded to the great hall.

"Am I going to have carry you there or can I let you down?" Glorfindel asked me.

"Well it's Christmas day," I said employing puppy-eyes. "Which is, of course, a day of great celebration for my people…"

"Very well," he said grinning.

"Thank you!" I squealed and kissed his Santa-hatted head as I enjoyed by free ride to the great hall and breakfast.

Elrond was already sitting in the great hall with a few other elves, all wearing their party hats upside down. I burst out into a fit off giggles at the ridiculous site and jumping down form Glorfindel's arms I went round all the elves turning round their party hats and putting ones on those who can't figured out a use for them yet.

By the time I got back to my seat (which was a long time later, there are a lot elves who need breakfast, and the ones who didn't were woken up by us any way) I found Ariel vividly bringing to life the nativity story for all who would listen - which was most of the hall.

"And then when he was born a massive, glowing golden star appeared in the sky," she exclaimed excitedly to an enraptured audience, "and there were these three wise men," I instantly adopted a wise-man like pose to the amusement of all around us. "And there saw this star, and they thought it was really cool so one wise man says to the other-"

"Let's follow that star!" I said in an exaggerated posh accent (obviously the elves didn't get it but Ariel liked it).

"And so they followed the star," she continued.

"On camels," I added.

"How can you follow a star?" asked Pippin, his eyes wide.

"You can do what ever you like in stories," I explained.

"And then an angel…" said Ariel. I promptly took off my Santa hat, grabbed a party hat and scrunched it so it became a halo a put it on my head.

"Came to some shepherds,"

"Baaaaa!" I baa-ed

"And told them that they've got to leave all their sheep and because the Son of God had been born and they had to go to Bethlehem to go visit. And so they went all the way to Bethlehem to say hi to Jesus,"

"Waaaa!" I provided the sound effects.

"And the wise men came," back to thoughtful wise man pose for me. "And they brought him gifts cause they were lyke loaded! Not really but anyway, they brought him Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh, and that," she said taking a deep breath " is why it's Christmas!"

HAPPY EASTER! 

That was a nice kinda cheerful ending compared to the last ending :D enjoy it while it lasts!

I'm sure I don't need to say this but if we got the nativity all wrong or something or offended anyone of any religion then we are very very sorry, it's not meant to be taken seriously. I know this probably doesn't need saying, but probably better to be safe than sorry 

We love you all, our reviews most of all! And remember, it's never too late to wear the honoured badge of 'REVIEWER' :D


	22. Chapter 22

Tin's pot plant: Oh my god, I mean, like, you are so awesome!

Frodo/backs away slowly/

Tin's pot plant: Awww…. I just loooooooove scared hobbits…. They're, like, so cute!

Frodo/backs away quickly/

Tin's pot plant/looks hurt/ I'm not that bad…. /looks around/ am I?

Tin/muttering/ no comment on that one…

Ala: Tin dear, just because it tried to strangle you in your sleep doesn't mean it's necessarily nasty…. /observes Tin's raised eyebrows/ Ok, ok, maybe it's not the nicest of people, but there's no need to be so rude!

Legolas/mutters/ did she eat Essence of Old Lady instead of cornflakes for breakfast/gets whapped by Ala/

Ala: You're a disgrace to your generation! You elves have no manners these days… /stalks off, tutting/

Caeli: Ok, whatever… EVERYONE! Why are we here?

Everyone: To do the disclaimer!

Caeli: I can't HEAR YOU!

Everyone/shouts/ TO DO THE DISCLAIMER!

Caeli: Thaaaat's better! Now, Tolkien owns it all. Tin reluctantly owns the pot plant. Ala and Tin share ownership of Ariel and Caeli. The end!

DO NOT SKIP THIS – V IMPORTANT: there's a link to the song 'catch a falling star' in our PROFILE because we can't put links in the actual story. ONLY CLICK (have the window ready) when you see the words 'catch a falling star' in the story (Caeli's POV), we hopes that it will adds a nice touch :D (btw if you do skip disclaimers, we're ashamed of you, in most stories they're boring but… this isn't most stories – trust us)

**Chapter 22**

**Ariel POV**

"A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!" I announced again at the end of breakfast, before running out of the hall with Caeli. We ended up tripping over, because we were trying to dance the cancan at the same time as running out of the hall. Needless to say, it didn't work all too well. In an attempt to salvage my pride, I made a deep bow once I reached the door, complete with arm flourishes. Unfortunately, Caeli then tripped over her own feet, crashed into me, and accidentally flipped me into the air. I ended up doing a somersault in midair and landing on my butt, which hurt. A lot.

_Ow ow ow ouch ouch ouch!_

Once we finally managed to leave the hall, we ran up to our room to write a note to Glorfindel. I had an hour until I had to leave with the Fellowship, and we had decided to leave things like the note to the last minute. That way there was less chance of being discovered. After twenty minutes and lots of screwed up paper, we managed to write a good letter, telling Glorfindel that Caeli had decided to come with the Fellowship, that she loved him lots, and that she had every intention of coming back to him alive.

"Ok, so you're going to drop these, right?" Caeli said, holding up a big bag of glow in the dark beads that we had bought in New Zealand, planning to make jewellery out of them. I wasn't quite sure why we had decided that glow in the dark jewellery would be good to have, but for some reason we had, and I was glad. We then smeared them in nail polish remover so that birds wouldn't come near them (Caeli had read somewhere that birds hate the smell of nail polish remover. I wasn't surprised – that stuff always had been, always was, and always would be foul).

"Yeah, and in a couple of hours you're going to say you're going to your room to be on your own, then you're going to pack your stuff and get a few hours sleep, then leave in the night. Remember, Mordor is left!" I said. Caeli giggled.

"I love that line! Mordor, Gandalf – is it right or left?" she said, laughing. I grinned.

"And I'm going to get to witness it in person… And I have to go now. Remember, leave as soon as you possibly can. I don't want you to be too far away from where we are, because if you get too far behind I might run out of beads. So go fast tonight, then go faster tomorrow," I told her. "Will you come with me?" Caeli nodded and passed me my bag.

When we got to the courtyard where the Fellowship was meeting up, I dropped my bag and hugged Caeli. Even though I knew she was going to follow us, I was worried that she might get lost, or that I might run out of beads too quickly, or something else bad might happen.

"I'm going to miss you so much," she pretended to sob into my shoulder. We both felt a bit guilty for lying to our friends, but we did it anyway.

"I'm going to miss you too," I sniffled. When we had finished saying goodbye, I picked up my bag again and walked over to stand with Legolas.

"The Ringbearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On you who travel with him, no oath nor bond is laid to go further than you will. Farewell. Hold to your purpose. May the blessings of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you," Elrond said. I clamped my mouth firmly shut, willing myself not to mouth the words along with him. I had a funny feeling that wouldn't go down too well. Everyone would probably think I was making fun of Elrond, though obviously I wouldn't have been – I just knew the film too well for my own good.

"Mordor, Gandalf – is it right or left?" Frodo whispered anxiously.

"Left," Gandalf told him, and Frodo led us out of Rivendell (going left).

A couple of hours of walking later, we stopped at a stream to have a drink. Obviously we had water with us, but Aragorn said that we should save that for when we didn't have any other place to get water from.

"Ariel, how come you're wearing trousers?" Pippin asked me curiously. I grinned – everyone in the Fellowship apart from Legolas had been giving me curious looks all morning, but Pippin was the only one brave enough to ask.

"Because if I wore a dress, I'd trip over it constantly and it'd get all muddy. Dresses aren't exactly practical. So I'm wearing trousers. And if the weather gets hot, I'll wear shorts. I'm warning you, the clothes I wore at home are very different from what you expect girls to wear," I told him, shrugging.

"So, when you're at home, you don't wear dresses?" Merry asked me.

"No way. Until I came here in July, I hadn't worn a dress since I was nine. So that was six years," I said. The Fellowship gaped at me – they obviously had problems imagining a world where females didn't always wear dresses.

"It must have been very strange for you, suddenly coming to Rivendell, then," Boromir commented. I nodded.

"It was complete culture shock – being here is like being in the past. Plus there's the fact that I'm living in a storybook. I think I've got kind of used to being in a story, though. The hardest part is when people say things and I have to stop myself saying it along with them," I said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Boromir asked, as we all stood up to continue walking.

"I mean, that I've watched the films so many times that I know a lot of what people say off by heart. Like what Elrond said when we left Rivendell. I knew what he was saying by heart and I got into the habit of repeating lines along with characters when I watched the film. Me and Caeli had this game, when we watched our favourite films, we used to say the lines along with the characters. And we used to do that for this film, so I have a bad habit of wanting to say what you lot say at the same time as you say it. And that'd be quite rude, so I'm trying not to do it," I told him. He nodded.

"So you already knew what this conversation was going to be?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nope. The film only shows important moments to the story, and although it's very nice having a conversation with you, it's not going to have an effect on the quest," I told him.

"But you know what you'll be doing sometimes?" he asked. "That must be very strange." I shook my head.

"I have no idea what's going to happen to me, because I'm not in the books or the films. In the books, it was nine members of the Fellowship for the nine Nazgul. Now I'm here, I guess it's ten members of the Fellowship for the ten evil baddies," I said. Boromir laughed.

"That's an interesting way of describing the ten most evil things in Middle-earth… evil baddies…" he laughed. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well, they are! They're evil, and they do bad things! And I didn't invent the expression!" Boromir kept laughing.

"Only you, Ariel, would think of the evillest spirits in Middle-earth and make fun of them instead of being scared of them," Legolas commented, walking up behind me.

"I think it's better to be able to think of your enemies and laugh than to think of your enemies and cower in fear. I know that Sauron is evil and is doing all sorts of evil things, but I don't want to gasp and flinch every time someone mentions him. I think he's pathetic, stupid and pathetic. I don't understand the want to have world domination, I think it's stupid because it goes against everything I believe in. And because I think what he wants is stupid, I think he's stupid too. Not ignorant, I'm sure he's intelligent, but stupid. I just can't see the pleasure in knowing that there's a load of miserable people out there being killed by orcs. And so when I think of Sauron, I roll my eyes and laugh because that's something he can't do. Amazingly powerful Ainur spirit or not, he can't even roll his eyes because of what he's chosen to become. And as for the Nazgul… when a Nazgul frightens you, just imagine it trying to sing the national anthem," I said seriously.

_Of course, having seen Nazgul Numero Uno crumple up after having it's arse thoroughly kicked by Eowyn, makes it easy to laugh at them. As does having seen Sauron's tower fall over. Unfortunately, I can't tell them that._

"You've seen the Eye?" Sam asked, gaping at me.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I haven't seen it in real life… or whatever this is… but I've seen it in the film. Close up. And honestly, it's not that scary. I always get an urge to poke it or spray pepper spray at it," I said, shrugging. I honestly had trouble understanding why they all called Sauron 'the Eye'.

"Pepper spray?" Legolas asked.

"You know when you get some things in your eye, it really really hurts? Like onion? Well, pepper spray just lets you spray a lot of that stuff straight into someone's eye if they attack you, so you can get away while they're distracted," I told him.

"Did you say that this isn't real life?" Pippin asked worriedly, biting his lip. I seemed to remember from the book that in hobbit years, Pippin wasn't actually an adult yet, and was probably about the equivalent of my age in human years. Then again, I could have been totally wrong.

"I don't know," I said dejectedly. "I don't know. I'm living in a story book and I have no idea whether this is real and I've fallen into another world, or whether I've gone thousands of years backwards in time and the Red Book was real, or whether I'm lying in a coma somewhere and imagining this whole thing. And I'm scared that I'm in a coma somewhere, imagining this whole thing, and when I wake up I'll be in a hospital somewhere in New Zealand and this will all have been a dream." Pippin looked sympathetically at me, then went to rejoin his friends. I was at the back of the group, with Legolas.

"Why are you so upset today, Ariel?" he asked me softly. I sniffed, trying not to cry. I was feeling terrible and I didn't want to make the others think that I was a weak crybaby because I was a girl.

"Because it's exactly six months since I sat by the window in that big jumbo jet, watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy on the DVD player," I said quietly. "Exactly six months since me and Caeli were so excited about going on our holiday to New Zealand and following the Lord of the Rings trail. Exactly six months since I was terrified out of my wits, and I normally get scared lots. I mean, not in everyday life, but I used to do something called trampolining, and I sometimes had to do things that were quite scary to do," I said miserably. I hadn't been on a trampoline in six months and I missed it.

"I hate to be annoying, but what's a DVD player, what's a jumbo jet, what's the Lord of the Rings trail and trilogy, and what is trampolining?" Legolas asked apologetically. I smiled at him.

"You're not annoying. A DVD player is a machine that you use to play films. A jumbo jet is a massive big metal machine that people sit in and it flies about 30000 feet up in the sky from one country to another in a few hours. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is the set of three films about Middle-earth. It was filmed in New Zealand, that means that the actors went to New Zealand to make the film, so all the scenery in the film is New Zealand countryside. And the Lord of the Rings trail is something that obsessives like me and Caeli go on, it's a list of places where the film was made. So we were camping in New Zealand and going to all these places. And trampolining is a sport where you basically jump up and down on something bouncy and do lots of somersaults and double somersaults. I've been doing it since I was three so I miss it a lot," I told him.

"Can – can machines really fly that high? And people go in them?" Legolas asked incredulously. I smirked, anticipating his reaction to what I was about to say.

"Of course, it means that people can travel thousands of miles in a day. But they're not exactly a big deal anymore. Not when we have rockets that have landed people on the moon," I said, smirking. Legolas' mouth dropped open.

"On – on the MOON? People in your world have stood on the MOON?" he asked in disbelief. I grinned, nodding.

"Yup. About 30 or 40 years ago, actually. Now people want to go to Mars, which is a different planet," I said, shrugging. "Of course, personally I'd rather go to Neptune, but that's made of gas and I'd get sucked into it thanks to gravity, so I'd settle for Pluto. And I'd love to stand on the sun, but that'll never happen seeing as the whole rocket would get instantly frizzled within about 150 miles or light years or whatever from the sun." I enjoyed telling Legolas about my childhood dreams. "Obviously, a trip on Virgin Galactic would be amazing, but it's not like I'd ever have $200,000 to spend on going into space for half an hour…"

"Virgin Galactic?" Legolas asked, confused.

"It's the part of a massive company that's planning on letting people go into space in a few years time. And it's amazingly expensive," I told him, laughing at myself for even entertaining the idea of ever going on one of those trips. There was no way in hell, heaven, or even purgatory that I was going to have enough money to spend it on half an hour in space. Plus, there was the whole fact that half an hour really wasn't much time at all.

"By the way, what did you mean, 'go into space'? Everywhere is space, correct?" Legolas asked me, looking totally bewildered. It was adorable.

"Different meaning of the same word. It's kind of hard to explain, because I'd have to explain the whole atmosphere thing and vacuums and I really don't want to have to go into that. Knowing that sort of thing really spoils life. I can't get out of bed in the morning and think, wow, the sky is really blue today, because the sky doesn't actually exist. So I'm not going to tell you about space, because it would take the joy out of seeing the sky," I told him.

"It's strange to hear you say that, because I know most men – sorry, humans – want to know more about the world they live in," Legolas mused.

"That's what a lot of people think back home, as well. I think some types of science knowledge are good, like medical knowledge, but some types of science suck. Like physics. It's kind of pointless finding things out about the world just for the sake of finding things out. I mean, why find out what the sun is made of? It's not like anyone is ever going to need to know that. And it's nice not knowing what the sun is going to do in fifteen billion years. I had a nightmare about that once actually… not that it was a very realistic nightmare, it was full of Portugese man-o-wars – they're massive, poisonous jellyfist – but still, why bother? I'm sure that the human species will have died out and, no doubt, be replaced by super-intelligent rodents by that time anyway," I said.

_Ok, I have no idea where this thoughtful mood came from… I think walking with a load of serious people who are 'On a Mission' is bad for me._

I giggled at the thought of them all being 'On a Mission' and Legolas looked oddly at me.

"I was just thinking about how serious and 007-ish you all look. You know, the nine guys who are, 'On a Mission'" I said, giggling. "And you won't get the joke." I was right, Legolas just looked confused.

"007-ish? Is that a compliment or an insult?" Legolas asked. I giggled again.

"It's a compliment of course – 007 is James Bond's spy number!" I said. Legolas looked confused again. For an elf, supposedly an intelligent species, he managed to look confused quite a lot. It was quite adorable actually, his confused look. "You look cute when you're confused, you know. James Bond is a British spy who keeps getting these missions to go and do something dangerous and deadly. And there's always a girl, or more than one girl, who falls in love – ok, not love, but she sleeps with him, so she falls in lust with him – who helps him with whatever he's doing and they always end up saving the world together. Not to mention that James Bond is hot, in an older-guy sort of way…" I mused. Legolas glared at me. "Hey, I didn't mean it that way! I'm just saying, that's why saying you guys are 007-ish is a compliment! And you make James Bond look like a rotten apple core, so calm down!" I said, kissing him. We stopped walking to pursue other more interesting occupations, namely snogging, but were sadly interrupted when Gandalf poked Legolas in the side with his staff.

"Stop wasting time you two!" he scolded us, glaring. He stalked off to talk to Gimli, no doubt discussing how irritating we were. I scowled at him and then linked arms with Legolas. We ran to catch up with the rest of the Fellowship.

By the time we stopped for the night, my feet were hurting and stiff and I just wanted a nice, long, hot bath. Of course, we were near a stream, so I could have had a nice, short, cold bath, but I decided against that. Aragorn made a fire, so I decided to try and burn my feet off in that instead. Then I decided against burning my feet off.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ouch," I said as I walked over to a spot of grass near the fire that looked as comfortable as any other spot of grass. The hobbits chose to sleep under a couple of trees, Aragorn, Boromir and Gandalf were sleeping next to the fire, and Legolas hadn't chosen yet. Gimli had found a little hollow underneath a tree which he climbed into happily. I plonked my bag down on the ground and pulled out my sleeping bag. Everyone else got out their blankets.

_Smirk, smirk, smirk. I seem to be the only one with a sleeping bag and therefore the only one who won't have frost all over my back tomorrow morning. Well, much as I pity their backs tomorrow morning, I'm not trading, hehe._

Legolas sat down beside me. He picked up my sleeping bag from where I'd dumped it on the ground. "What is this? Where is your blanket?" he asked me.

"It's a sleeping bag. It's just a bag made out of a blanket that I'm going to sleep in," I reassured him.

_I would like to announce that I'm not quite stupid enough to leave to go 'On a Mission' and forget my sleeping bag!_

"Are you sure you'll be warm enough?" he asked me.

"I'll be fine. In fact I'll probably be warmer than the others because my back won't be on the ground, it'll be in the sleeping bag," I told him. "You're just lucky, you won't get cold."

"No, but you do, and I don't want you to be cold," he told me. I smiled at him and kissed him.

"I know you don't, but honestly I'll be fine. And right now I'm tired, so I'm going to go to sleep. Where are you going to sleep?" I asked.

"Right here, if you don't mind," he said. I smiled

"Go ahead," I told him. "I'm warning you though, I talk in my sleep and your elf ears might not like me very much in the morning!" He laughed.

"I'll risk it," he said. By the time he was finished finding the blanket in the bottom of his bag, I was asleep.

The next morning, I woke up early, and actually in a good mood. I was never cheerful in the mornings, but my first morning with the Fellowship, I was in a good mood. Of course, that could have been due to the fact that when I woke up, I found that I'd rolled towards Legolas in my sleep and he was hugging the sleeping bag (with me in it, obviously) to him in his sleep.

"That's definitely my favourite way to wake up," I said to myself, accidentally waking Legolas up.

"Glad to hear it," he said sleepily.

"You know, I've never woken you up before. You've come to wake me up plenty of times, but I've never woken you up. Now I have," I said cheerfully. "One of life's unmissable experiences. You look very peaceful in your sleep."

"Have some bacon, Ariel!" Pippin said cheerfully, waving the food on the end of a fork at me.

"No thanks Pippin, I'll pass on that. I'll just have an apple," I said. Legolas sighed and led me away from the others to talk.

"Ariel, you need your energy and you won't get that from an apple," he said. "I know you're vegetarian, but you told me that the reason that you're vegetarian is that the animals are treated badly where you come from. Please, until this quest is over, eat some meat? I promise you, the pig was treated fine," he told me, holding my hands in his. I bit my lip. "Please, eat one piece?" he asked me worriedly. I sighed.

"Do you promise that the pig wasn't locked up and fed chemicals all it's life?" I asked. Legolas nodded.

"I promise," he assured me. I chewed on my lip for a while.

"O-ok," I said finally. "Only because you asked, and I'm only having one piece. And once this whole thing is over, I'm never eating meat again, ok?" I asked. Legolas nodded and hugged me. We walked back to the others. I grinned at Pippin.

"On second thoughts, may I please have some bacon?" I asked him, smiling. He passed me a piece of bacon, then returned to his own (large) breakfast. I looked at the cooked piece of dead pig in my hand and resisted the urge to be sick. I looked at Legolas and he nodded at me. I tentatively took a bite of the bacon, and made myself chew and swallow it. Once I finished, I reached for an apple and savoured it, glad to know that it, at least, had never breathed. Thankfully, no one other than Legolas noticed my aversion to bacon, or so I thought until we had started walking again.

"Ariel, may I ask you something?" Frodo asked me.

"Sure, go ahead," I told him.

"Well, I might be wrong, but… do you ever eat meat? I mean, at Rivendell I never saw you eat one bit of meat or even fish, and this morning you didn't look like you wanted to eat the bacon…" Frodo asked tentatively. I smiled at him.

"You're observant," I told him. "You're also right. I haven't eaten meat since I was eleven, well until this morning I haven't," I said. Frodo nodded, satisfied that he had an answer, and looked like he was about to ask me why when Merry came up and started talking about the Green Dragon. I guessed that the hobbits were all feeling pretty homesick for the Shire.

We spent another few hours walking, me dropping beads, when we stopped for a break. Pippin had tripped over a root and had twisted his ankle. Aragorn bandaged him up and we were on our way again. By the time we'd been walking for, I don't know, maybe five hours, my feet felt like they were on fire and I resolved never to think of burning them ever again.

"Ouch!" I said, falling on a loose stone.

"Are you alright, Ariel?" Aragorn asked me. I tested my ankle out before replying. Sure it hurt a little, but I was so clumsy I'd already twisted it three times that day. And I was so used to twisting my ankle that it didn't hurt me much anymore. I figured that I was pretty immune to ankle pain.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. Behind Aragorn's back Pippin raised his eyebrows at me, so I crossed my eyes and made the ugliest face possible back at him. He snorted, which drew the attention of Boromir.

"If the wind changes you'll stay like that, Ariel," he teased me. I saluted him.

"Yes mother," I told him cheerfully.

**Caeli's POV**

As soon as the fellowship left I ran back to my room before anyone could stop me. I realised I already had most of he essentials I would need already in my bag, basically because I hadn't bothered to take them out, I even found that I actually didn't need a lot of the stuff I had brought eg cooking stuff (thank god it was HEAVY).

Some things still need to be added like clothes for instance. _Ok… tracksuit is a must, jeans – probably shouldn't bring but I will anyway, as many tops as I can squash _(which was actually quite a few once they were rolled up) _underwear – heh lots obviously. _I walked round my room picking up things that I had taken out of my rucksack that I would need: whistle, washing things, water bottle etc.

Finally I checked under my bed and saw two karimats. _Someone's forgotten something… _I thought and spent the next ten minuets working out how I could attach both my karimat and Ariel's. Finally I settled for one under my rucksack as normal and one on top carefully tied on with string. It looked ridiculous, but Middle-earthians thought I looked ridiculous anyway so, oh well!

I had just set my watch to wake me in two hours when there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" I called.

"It's me," called Glorfindel "Are you ok?"

"Ummm, fine, well actually I'm feeling a little ill I think I'll just rest in here for a while," I said hoping he'd buy it.

"The Gondorian illness?" he asked "well, I hope you feel better soon, I'll be in the training grounds," he said.

"Ok, thanks, I'll see you there," I called back and then drifted off for two hours of rest.

BEEP BEEP, BEEP BEEP. The two hours seemed to be up before I'd fallen asleep. I looked outside. It was almost dark. Before I left I had one last thing to do. I took the letter I had written to Glorfindel and walked up to his room. Luckily he wasn't in it. I put the note on his desk and then I saw his quill and thought of something. Taking the quill out of the inkwell I went out of his room and looked at his door. I remembered him telling me once that each door had its owner's name on it. I carefully copied the symbols for his name onto the front. True, it was crap elvish writing but I knew he would at least think it funny I tried. Mission accomplished I left his room.

Back in my own room I brought out clothes that I could wear now, the more layers the better. I was just selecting a jumper when Glorfindel knocked.

"You didn't come to dinner," he said. I swallowed, this would be the last time I saw him in Rivendell. I ran to open the door and jumped up hug him.

"Feeling better then?" he asked me.

"I…I…," I began trying not to cry and trying not to think about never seeing him. It failed and the waterworks commenced. "I'm…not feeling… that much… better," I said between sobs still hugging him.

"When you next see Boromir tell him off from me for giving you a Gondorian illness," he said half jokily, then more seriously, "I wish there was something I could do,"

"You'll see Boromir at the same time as I will though won't you?" I asked looking at him surprised, from his point of view we would both see Boromir when the quest was over.

"Of course, stupid of me." he said laughing. It sounded a bit weird coming from Glorfindel but I decided to let it pass. "It's getting late and dark," he said smiling down at me and gently wiping away my tears. "Take care of yourself, I love you." he said, kissed me then left.

"I love you too," I whispered into the night then started crying again, what if I never did see him again? I reached for a tissue and wiped my face. _Tissues! I knew there was something I'd left. _I stuffed a few packs into the top of my bag, put on my hat, scarf, gloves (like I would have them for long) and put on my rucksack before walking out of my room. I reached the gates of Rivendell and walked quietly out.

Then… I ran straight back! _My TORCH! I am SO IDIOCTIC! _

Having retrieved my torch from my room I set out slightly happier. _Mordor Caeli, left or right? LEFT! _I obeyed my mind and turned left to Mordor.

I smiled when I saw the first glowing green bead and put it in my pocket.

_Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket…hmmm hmm hmmm hmm hmmm hmm_

Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Never let it fade away  
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket  
Save it for a rainy day…

I hummed quietly as I walked along picking up beads as I went. I tried to walk fast so that I would hopefully have a chance of catching up with the fellowship at some point one year. Eventually the 'tune to catch a falling star' became as kinda mantra to keep me from running straight back. It got darker and darker and I thought enviously of Ariel who was almost definitely sleeping by now. _Just cause Legolas in the fellowship and Glorfindel isn't… Glorfindel… he must have got my note by now, I wonder what he's thinking…'catch a falling star'… maybe he's cross with me…'and put it in your pocket'._

I don't know how long I'd been walking when I realised that it had been a while since I had seen a bead. _Oh my god… Ok, call for Glorfindel, tell him you're sorry and it was a stupid idea… NO I have to do this… _I began to walk back the way I'd come from trying not to panic but all the time I could feel my heart thudding in my chest. _Second thoughts, it's a bit stupid to be walking back as I've been collecting the beads as I go a long… not the most intelligent thing I've all summer. _I turned round again and walked what I thought was away from Rivendell, but to be honest I didn't really know as it was almost pitch black. I hurried round for what seemed like ages, more than once tripping over a tree trunk and falling painfully onto my hands.

Eventually I saw a little glow underneath a leaf. I ran over to it and sure enough it was a little glowing bead. I sighed with relief when I saw the next one a little way a head of it, I had found my path again. _Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket…_

I continued like this for a while longer until I'd decided that if I carried on any longer I would completely lose my way and would be more likely to play 'follow the orc' than 'following the little funny glowing things'. I laid my karimat onto the ground and dumped my sleeping bag on it. I curled up inside my sleeping bag, set my alarm for three hours later, briefly considered how hungry I was then feel asleep.

I awoke up more tired than when I went to sleep but grumpily got de-sleeping bagged and packed my stuff away, yawning all the time. I decided that I had never been this tired, ever. I pulled out some breakfast bars that I had stuffed into my side pocket. 'Best before September' _ah well _I thought munching contentedly.

As I continued along my trail I considered taking out my mp3 player in the vague hope that loud music might wake me up. Then I remembered that loud music would also make me oblivious to oncoming evil things. Then again, there would be nothing I could do if evil things decided to abduct me so maybe it was better to not know…_nah, lets be sensible _I decided and left my mp3 player in my bag _not listening to music while walking… I'm developing the fine-tuned skills and wisdom of ranger, go me! … Well maybe it was common sense… I'm developing common sense, go me!_

As the day went on it got lighter and my mood brightened a little but I was quickly realising that the main problem with Ariel's plan was that I couldn't cook any food. I had camping food, but it was designed to be cooked on camping stoves, which I hadn't got. I also had matches but I decided that I would prefer to die by starvation that die by being burnt alive which would surely happen if I tried to make a fire.

I soon realised that I had become half-robotic, I had gone on autopilot and the instructions were:

Walk

As fast as you can

Pick up beads along the way

Don't think about food because you're hungry, bed because you're tired and cold or home because you'll just get upset.

So I just walked, and ran when I was feeling energetic, which wasn't often.

Sometime in the afternoon I was walking along, cold, homesick, very tired and most of all, hungry when I stopped. I didn't stop because I'd fainted, I didn't stop because I'd died and I didn't stop because I'd given up and gone home (Rivendell that is, funny, I'm starting to think of it as home).

I stopped because there was a long sharp sword pointed at my throat. I gulped _Me equals dead, bye world, nice knowing you. _But then the sword was joined by another sword, a bow, and axe and a wooden staff.

"CAELI!" the owners of the said sharp pointed objects exclaimed together.

"You got any food?" I asked in a small croaky voice because it was of course, the fellowship, at last.

"CAELI!" I was knocked back by Ariel rushing up to me and hugging. "You're ok!" she squealed happily.

"Not exactly," I said "I'm cold, tired and hungry… you got any food?" I asked again. Don't get wrong, I was overjoyed to see Ariel and the others again… but I just wasn't in the mood for celebrating.

"By the Valar, how did you find us?" asked Aragorn with a completely stunned look on his face.

"Girls aren't without brains," I said groggily and I reached in my pocket and gave Ariel a few beads. She giggled.

"It worked!" she said.

"What worked?" asked Legolas looking completely mystified.

"The plan!" she said.

"What plan?" asked Gandalf.

"Ariel, you explain, I'm too tired," I asked her, sinking wearily to the floor by a tree trunk.

"I got you some food Miss," said Sam coming up to me with a lovely plate of meat.

"Bless you Sam," I said patting the little hobbit on the back, I was too tired to ask him to call me 'Caeli' as I usually did. I ate the food quickly, vaguely listening to Ariel's explanation of the plan.

"And so they must have lead her here," finished Caeli.

"You must have had quite a journey to catch up with us," Boromir said to me. I just nodded.

"I take it there is no way to persuade you to go back?" asked Aragorn. I shook my head.

"You should sleep lass," said Gimli kindly "You look exhausted," I nodded and rested my head back against a tree trunk.

"We will rest early tonight, I think," said Gandalf smiling at me. Everyone looked really happy at the news and put their bags down.

"Ariel," I called.

"Yup, are you ok?" she said quickly.

"Fine, look at the top of my bag, there's something you forgot." I said.

"My karimat!" see exclaimed hugging me and set to work detaching it. Aragorn came over to me.

"I don't suppose you brought a weapon in that bag?" he questioned looking down at me (he was standing, I was sitting).

"No, I forgot, I'm such an idiot," I said sadly.

"It is fortunate then that I have a spare small sword," he said smiling.

"How on earth…?" I asked sitting up _Talk about coincidence._

"I would never have brought it actually as I do not like to burden myself with too many weapons but Glorfindel seemed to think it was a good idea and as you probably know by now, his advice is rarely wrong," he said handing a small sheathed sword to me. I pulled it out to look at it and immediately a small piece of paper fell out onto my lap. Frowning, a placed the sword in front of me and picked up the little piece of paper. It was folded and had a single word on the front.

"I can't read it," I said.

"It says your name," said Legolas also coming over to me, as did the rest of the fellowship looking interested. _Yeah yeah, show off your elvish sight… _"And it's from Glorfindel, it's his writing," said Legolas.

"Glorfindel…" I whispered.

"He must have know you were coming," said Gandalf.

"I knew he was a clever one, first time I saw him he knew I like tomatoes before I even told him," said Pippin proudly. Everyone (whom I had noticed had now all come over and were all standing above were I was sitting so that I had to look up even to see the hobbits) laughed.

"I had no idea…" I said looking at what I know knew to be my name on the paper.

"Never, try to fool Glorfindel it will never work he's a very wise elf, wiser than you could even guess," said Aragorn.

"Indeed, many have made the mistake of underestimating Glorfindel, they never make the same mistake twice," said Gandalf.

"_Take care of yourself, I love you," …he knew I was about to leave! He meant take care of myself on the journey!_

I opened up the paper and stared and the characters for a while before handing it to Legolas.

"Could you read it to me?" I asked quietly.

"Caeli," Legolas read "you maybe surprised that I know you are going. Doubtless the rest of the fellowship will now be telling you at great length of my wisdom. Ignore them, they're lying." Gandalf chuckled to himself. "From the day after the council onwards," Legolas continued "I knew you had changed your mind, it wasn't wisdom, it was obvious to anyone who knew you well. I could tell you felt guilty every time you saw me and you began to practice with more urgency than before, and on that subject may I say that I am so proud of what you've achieved, you are now at the level Estel was at when he was seven – no offence." Aragorn laughed.

"I wasn't that bad when I was seven, don't worry," he said reassuringly.

"I understand why you need to go and I'm not 'pissed if off', that's what you're thinking," read Legolas.

"Pissed off…" giggled Ariel.

"All I can say is that I wish you didn't have to go and I will think off you every day until I see you again, I love you so much, and I always will. Glorfindel." when Legolas stopped reading there was silence.

"There's something on the back," said Merry suddenly. Legolas flipped over the sheet and read:

"Tell…" he began then his eyes scanned the rest of the line and then he laughed and handed it to Aragorn. Aragorn read it and laughed as well.

"What does it say?" asked Merry.

"He says that if Caeli dies he will make sure that I die in the same way, and he adds that he will come back form the halls of Mandos again to ensure it happens if necessary." The ones who knew Glorfindel's story laughed and Aragorn handed it back to me. "You better get some sleep, I don't like the thought of dying of weariness," he said.

"I will," I assured him and I put Glorfindel's letter in my inside coat pocket. I laid my karimat and crawled inside my sleeping bag and fell quickly asleep.

When I woke up it was dark. The fellowship were sleeping. I saw Aragorn, sitting on a log looking out into the night. I silently got out of my sleeping bag and went to sit next to him.

"I thought you were tired," he said quietly so as not to wake the others.

"I was, but it seems I cannot sleep for more the fours hours at a time now," I replied.

"You should try to sleep at least," he said, turning to look at me.

"I've tried trust me, I just can't though, I'm thinking too much…I'm troubled as you might say" I said.

"What generally troubles you at two hours past midnight?" teased Aragorn.

"Heh, generally I'm fast asleep like most normal people, but tonight… you know that feeling when you can't stop thinking what if I had done this or should I have done that?" I asked. Aragorn nodded. "Well, it's like that. I keep on thinking what if I hadn't come with you guys and I'd just stayed in Rivendell… maybe it was a bad decision…" I trailed off.

"You can still go back should you wish to," said Aragorn. I looked back in the direction I had come from, towards Rivendell.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked him sighing. He paused for moment before answering.

"I think that if you have managed to come all the way here unaided then you must have shown a lot of determination so you obviously want to come. In that case you should,"

"So you don't object to having another girl in the fellowship?" I asked.

"If Glorfindel has allowed you to come, then no, I have no objection," he said. I smiled.

"I'll try and get some more sleep, I've got a splitting headache" I said standing up. Then before leaving I asked "How bad were you really when you were seven? Tell me the truth."

"Lets just say that when we do meet orcs on our road, as we are sure to at some point, I will be very concerned for you and indeed for myself given Glorfindel's threat, I would recommend you stayed out of the way," he said.

"Thank you for that motivating speech, Lord Aragorn," I said sarcastically.

"You are most welcome, I assure you," he said. Hey, this guy has a sense of humour!

So, they're off finally! We are open to suggestions about anything that you want to happen along the way… we may not listen to them but we still proclaim ourselves 'open to suggestions'. :) (yes we do have a vague plan of our own in mind although a certain two sixteen year olds /cough/ Ariel /cough/ Caeli /cough/ force us to adjust the said plan)

Ok, I don't know how many people actually know what a karimat is, so if you didn't know and so you didn't understand half of what we were talking about, a karimat is a mat made of foam (I think) that people take when they go camping and they sleep on top of it. I think it stops you from being cold and wet from being on the ground, or something (not quite sure, lol). So now you know!

And finally, we're so sorry about how long it took us to update! We do have good excuses, honestly – we've both had French oral GCSE exams, which gave Tin a few migraines, then Tin had a drama GCSE exam and we've got the rest of our GCSEs in a couple of weeks, so life is generally a)busy and b)sucks. Sorry!


	23. Chapter 23

Tin's pot plant: YOWWLLLLLLLL!

Ariel//gives pot plant funny look/ Honey, you're a pot plant, not a cat.

Tin's pot plant: Do I care? YOWWLLLLLLLLL!

Ariel//sigh/ I'll take that as a no.

Caeli: It's kind of a pity you can't gag pot plants

Ariel: Yeah… you could mummify it, though!

Caeli: You could if you could be bothered to sort through miles of bandages. Knowing you, that would never happen.

Ariel//sulks/

Boromir: While the children bicker, Elrond has an announcement to make /Tin plays fanfare on trombone/ Thank you Tinuviel, put the trombone AWAY!

Tin//sulks/

Elrond//looks sternly at Tin and Ariel/ Nutcases from distant lands, lunatics of old. You have been summoned here to listen to the disclaimer.

Ala: GET ON WITH IT! BOOOOOOO HISS /throws rotten tomato/ oh damn, that was my last tomato

Elrond//whimper/ Ok, Ala and Tin don't own Lord of the Rings, they only own Ariel, Caeli, and a pot plant. YAY FOR THEM!

MUSIC: Yup, more music in our profile for this chapt – 'The Great Escape' this time (don't ask: it's of vital plot importance of course!). Remember to have it ready an click the link when you see the magic words…. 'The Great Escape' nOt CaSe sEnSiTiVe!

**Chapter 23**

**Ariel POV**

I rolled over, punching the ground in frustration.

"Ouch!" I protested. I hadn't been able to sleep for two nights running and lack of sleep combined with blisters was really bugging me. I stood up in my sleeping bag and hopped over to where Legolas sat, guarding our little camp. Unfortunately, I toppled over halfway there and only Legolas' quick reflexes stopped me from landing flat on my face.

"You should be sleeping, Ariel," he told me quietly. I made a face.

"I know that and my body knows that. Unfortunately my mind doesn't seem to understand the concept of actually going to sleep. So here I am," I grumbled, then shivered. Legolas looked sympathetically at me.

"Are you cold?" he asked me. I shrugged.

_Yes, I'm freezing to death. No, I'm not going to tell you that. Why? Because you, Mr Noble Elf, will insist on giving me your blanket. And you need to keep warm as much as I do._

"A little, but I'll warm up here by the fire for a few minutes before I try to go back to sleep. That is, if you don't mind the company?" I asked. Legolas shook his head. I sat down next to him, leaning on him. His arm was a very comfy pillow.

Neither of us slept very much that night. Legolas, being an elf, didn't need much sleep, and I seemed to have forgotten how to sleep. We spent most of the night just watching the stars and telling each other stories about our homes. I fell asleep sometime during the night, but probably not for more than a couple of hours, because when I woke up the sun hadn't risen.

I loved the sunrises in Middle-earth. Back home in England, I'd always been more of a sunset person than a sunrise person. Seeing the innocent-looking pink and blue sky in the morning always made me feel cheated; sunrises always seem to give off this sense of there being a new day that you can shape into whatever you want it to be, but I couldn't shape it. Whatever day of the week it was, there was always something that had to happen on that day, at a particular time. On weekdays, I had to get up at 6.30, go to school and come back at 4.30, then I either went to trampolining or to the gym in the evenings. On Saturdays, I went to trampolining then tried to enjoy the few hours of freedom I had in the afternoon while my parents were out. Then on Sundays, I had church then three hours of homework.

In Middle-earth, life wasn't like that. Even though there was a certain distance we had to travel in a day, it changed from day to day. One day, we'd have to travel much farther than the next. It wasn't really a big deal, to be honest, but it made me feel free. And now when I watched the sunrise, I could appreciate that the world was waking up, that there was a new day that was going to be different to the one seven days before it.

"I love the sunrise here," I said sleepily to Legolas. He looked at me, slightly surprised.

"I thought that you hated mornings," he said. I nodded.

"I only hated them because I knew what the day was going to be like already. I never saw the point of getting up because the day was going to be exactly the same as the one before it," I told him.

"But if you liked the things that you did so much that you did them every week, why did you not want to get out of bed and do them?" Legolas asked me.

"I didn't like most of them. Well, I liked trampolining, and working out at the gym, but I'd much rather have gone for a walk somewhere than go to the gym. But back home, there are a lot of things that everyone has to do whether they like it or not. And those things control their lives," I told him. "Like school – ninety five percent of what people learn in school is completely useless, but if you don't do well in school then you won't have a good future. Which sucks."

"Yup, school is a total waste of time," Caeli said cheerfully, coming up behind us. I jumped and tripped over the end of my sleeping bag, knocking her over. "Ariel, if you wanted a hug you could have asked, instead of knocking me over," she teased me. I stuck my tongue out at her. "So, breakfast anybody?" she asked.

A few more hours of walking later (hello blisters) we stopped at a stream to refill our water thingys. I never had found out what they were called.

"We will stop for a rest and some lunch when we arrive at Hollin," Gandalf told Merry and Pippin, who were beginning to complain about their stomachs again.

"What d'ya bet I get bird crap on me when we get to Hollin?" I muttered to Caeli. She snickered.

"I'd bet you some chocolate but I haven't got any left," she told me. That gave me a sudden idea.

"D'you think Merry and Pippin would be less hungry if we gave them gobstoppers? I just remembered, I have a massive bag of them at the bottom of my bag," I said to Caeli. "Oh bugger, they don't have toothpaste here, so no, I won't give them sugary sweets. They're probably fond of their teeth," I said suddenly. Merry came up behind me.

"Were you discussing giving me and Pip food?" he asked, grinning at me. I nodded.

"We were, but I'm not going to because the food we've got will make your teeth go black and fall out," I threatened him. Merry made a face. I smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry, but you probably like your teeth."

When we arrived at Hollin, I sat down on a rock next to Caeli. Boromir started teaching Merry and Pippin sword fighting, which was definitely amusing to watch. Gandalf, Gimli and Aragorn started smoking their pipes.

"What d'you think pipeweed actually is?" I asked Caeli. She shrugged.

"Well, it definitely isn't tobacco, but other than that I have no idea. It smells familiar though. It's probably just some type of weed that they think smells nice and we use for incense," Caeli said. I nodded and stood up.

"Aragorn, what is that stuff you're smoking? I know it's pipeweed, so what's that?" I asked. Aragorn passed me a packet of dried leaves. I smelt it and burst out laughing.

_BLOODY HELL!_

"Caeli, we're in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of druggies!" I said, laughing hysterically. Caeli grinned.

"What is their pipeweed?" she asked curiously.

"It's weed!" I said. Caeli nodded, a DUH expression on her face.

"Yes Ariel, we've established that. What TYPE of weed?" she asked slowly and carefully. I rolled my eyes.

"Weed, as in marijuana, the illegal drug," I told her, equally slowly and carefully. Caeli stared at me for a minute before joining me in hysterical laughter.

A few minutes later, when our sides were hurting, we flopped down onto the ground. The Fellowship had got used to our hyperactiveness but that didn't stop them giving us weird looks.

"Ariel, did you say that pipeweed is illegal in your homeland?" Aragorn asked curiously. I smirked at him.

"Most definitely," I said. "We've had so many police talks about it that I know the policeman's speech off by heart now." Aragorn looked confused.

"Why would it be illegal? What's a policeman?" he asked.

"A policeman or policewoman is someone who stops crime from happening and can arrest people for crimes they've done. And pipeweed is illegal because it's very bad for you and makes you high and it's also addictive," I scolded him. Aragorn looked at me, looked at Caeli, and raised an eyebrow.

"Presumably by 'high' you mean easily exciteable?" Aragorn asked. "I haven't seen you or Caeli smoking pipes."

_Yeowch! Who would've guessed Aragorn had a bitchy side?_

"Ha ha Aragorn. High is kind of like me and Caeli having drunk too much wine," I told him. "But not as much as when Caeli fell asleep on top of a bookcase," I said, smirking. Caeli threw her bag at my head. Fortunately, it missed. Unfortunately, it hit Boromir's butt as he leant down to pick up his sword from the ground. It was hilarious. Boromir turned around and glared at me.

"Hey, it wasn't me!" I said defensively, pointing at Caeli. "It was her!" Boromir switched his scowl to Caeli, then went back to training the hobbits. A few minutes later, I saw something black in the sky. I looked at Caeli and exchanged 'here come the birdies' looks.

"What is that?" Sam asked, noticing me and Caeli staring at the sky.

"Nothing, it's just a bit of cloud," Gimli said cheerfully. Boromir and Legolas stared into the sky.

"It's moving fast, and against the wind," Boromir informed us.

_Noooo…. REALLY?_

"Crebain from Dunland!" Legolas squawked suddenly, then grabbed me around the middle and pulled me under the nearest bush.

_That sounds SO wrong…_

When the ugly black birdies buggered off again, Legolas helped me crawl out from under the bush. I brushed myself off, cursing Saruman inside my head. If he HAD to send a load of birds to spy on us, couldn't he at least have made them bright pink and glittery?

"The passage south is being watched. We must take the pass of Caradhras," Gandalf pronounced grimly. I slapped a hand over my mouth – I'd repeated the first couple of words along with him before I realised what I was doing. I walked up to the nearest tall rock and whacked my head on it before turning round and smiling at the others, who were staring at me.

"I really need to get out of that habit before it gets me into trouble," I muttered to Legolas. "Or maybe I should just stuff snow in my mouth next time a scene from the film comes up." Legolas shook his head.

"Snow in your mouth would probably result in your tongue falling out, which would be rather painful, so I would advise you not to do that," Legolas told me. I grinned at him.

"Ok, I'm sure I can find something more enjoyable to occupy my mouth," I told him. Legolas blushed slightly and grinned at me.

"I'm sure I would be happy to help you," he told me. I smirked at him.

"Whoever said I didn't mean Boromir?" I said. "No, I'm joking," I told him quickly, then kissed him to prove it.

Trudging up mountains was not very fun. My feet got cold and my nose went red and my hair went frizzy and I looked like the Abominable Snowman. The second afternoon of walking through snow, I got totally bored and decided to liven things up a little. I bent down and scooped up a handful of snow, which I promptly threw at Caeli. She squealed and clutched her beloved hair.

"I am so going to get you for that!" she told me, and pelted me with a few snowballs. I held my hands up in peace and when she stopped, I pointed silently at Aragorn and Legolas then at the snow. Caeli understood my meaning and scooped up two nice big snowballs.

"Aragorn, Legolas, come here a moment," I called. As soon as he turned around, Caeli threw snowballs at them. Aragorn got a nice white snow moustache, but Legolas managed to duck.

_Damn elven reflexes!_

Aragorn and Legolas quickly started retaliating, and the hobbits and Gimli soon joined in our little snowball fight. Gandalf just stood there with an annoying grandfatherly look on his face, observing us. I decided the time was ripe to snowball him. I snuck up behind him with an armful of snow which I put down his neck. He suddenly jumped up and did a hilarious looking dance trying to get the snow out. I doubled over in laughter at seeing the Mighty Gandalf looking like a drunk teenager trying to do a chicken dance. Caeli turned around at the sound of my hysterics and promptly collapsed in laughter too.

"Now that we have finished our snowball fight, let us travel onward," Gandalf said, glaring at me. I reluctantly picked myself up from the ground and rubbed my ribs, which were aching from too much laughter.

Another hour of walking later, and I was seriously bored.

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes:" I sang cheerfully. Caeli joined in with me. After a few minutes of singing the song over and over, off-key because neither of us could sing, the entire Fellowship looked ready to push us off the mountain.

"Will you two SHUT UP?" Gimli burst out finally, frustratedly.

"I thought people in Middle-earth liked to sing walking songs as they travel?" I asked innocently.

"That is a song?" Boromir asked.

"Why don't we serenade you all with the song that never ends?" I said happily. Caeli grinned at me and we started singing before the Fellowship could tell us not to.

"This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, and they'll be singing forever and ever because this is the…" we sang. That one was worse than before because neither of us knew the tune, so I ended up singing it to the tune of 'My Heart Will Go On' while Caeli sang it to the theme tune of Pirates of the Caribbean. My rendition suddenly stopped when Gandalf walked up behind me and stuffed snow down my neck. I screeched and stood absolutely still, smirking at him because I refused to do the chicken dance. Blisters and meat were really getting to me.

Once the snow had melted, I glared at Gandalf.

"Fine, I'll shut up. But as soon as I get near a drum and a bass you guys are so experiencing rock music," I said. Boromir snorted.

"_Rock_ music?" he asked. I grinned at him.

"Yup. Loud and loathed by most people over the age of thirty, with the exception of rock'n'roll music which is loved by old people and it also sucks," I told him.

"You have the strangest names for things," Boromir told me, laughing.

_I kind of have to agree with him, actually. Seriously, who came up with the term 'rock music'? It is a bit strange… maybe pink zebras were involved._

A few more minutes of dragging my blistered feet up the mountain and a blizzard started. The ice whipped around my face, blowing into my eyes, filling my mouth if I opened it to speak. The wind was so cold I thought my nose was going to fall off and my hands would turn black with frostbite.

I sighed, watching Legolas walk effortlessly on top of the snow.

_Why is it that someone who must weigh… well, a lot more pounds than me can walk on TOP of the snow but little skinny me is buried in snow up to my thighs? Life sucks and gravity does not impress me much!_

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves…" I sang miserably to myself. I knew when I joined the Fellowship that comfort was not going to be a big part of my life, but there really is nothing more depressing than knowing that a)you are about to get a load of snow dumped on top of your head and b)you can't relax in a nice warm bath afterwards. Everyone was concentrating too hard on seeing where they were going and not falling off the mountain path that I don't think anybody even realised I was singing at all. To be honest, I wouldn't blame them, my voice was never anything a sane person would want to hear.

_Cuiva nwalca Carnirassë nai yarvaxëa rasselya_ The wind sounded differently suddenly, as if it was whispering and full of malice. I stared around me for a moment before my eyes widened and I stared at Caeli. We were about to get ten million tons of snow dumped on top of us and I was not happy about it. The others obviously noticed something wasn't right, too, because they were all looking around uneasily. Legolas seemed to be the only one besides me and Caeli who actually knew what was going on.

"There is a fell voice on the air!" Legolas hollered at Gandalf. Gandalf nodded.

"It's Saruman!" Gandalf yelled back. I couldn't help it, I shuddered. This was the first time that Middle-earth was truly, totally, and completely real to me. There was a REAL evil wizard in an ugly tower a couple of hundred miles away, trying to dump a mountain on me. There was a REAL evil eyeball a few more miles away, trying to take over the world. I wasn't living in my favourite book anymore. I was living in a real world with real evil gits who were really going to kill me if they got anywhere near me.

THWUMP.

Snow. Cold. All over. Well, up to my chest anyway. I glared up in the general direction that I thought Orthanc was in.

_God, do you have a personal vendetta against me or something?_

"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn yelled.

_No shit, Sherlock._

I looked at Caeli and rolled my eyes. Talk about stating the obvious. What else would Saruman be doing by causing avalanches on top of us? Experimenting with gravity?

"Gandalf, we must turn back!"

_Best idea you've had all year._

"No!" Gandalf yelled.

_Now lets count how many more tons of snow it takes before you change that big Istari mind of yours._

"_Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i 'ruith_!" Gandalf shouted, pointing his staff at the mountain.

_Cuiva nwalca Carnirasse; Nai yarvaxea rasselya; taltuva notto-carinnar_ Again, there was that sort of whisper in the wind that reeked of hatred and cruelty. I shivered, knowing that it was Saruman preparing to deposit snow on me.

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves…" I sang quietly, trying to, if not cheer the others up, then give them something different to be pissed off about than the mountain. Because at least being angry at me would be productive. Being angry at a lump of rock never achieved anything. Caeli joined in with me. Sam turned around and scowled at us, but no one else could be bothered to react.

CRACK

A massive lightening strike struck the mountain. I grabbed onto Caeli and dived for the wall of rock next to us before the snow came down. And come down it did.

_Yeowch! That is cold!_

I burrowed around my head with my hands until I found Caeli. She grinned at me.

"And now we provide the Fellowship's daily dose of humour," she told me and outlined her plan for brightening up the Fellowship's day. Not that the lightening strike hadn't done that enough already. I still had stripes in my vision.

_Reminder to self: next time you know there's going to be a lightening strike, don't look at it! Idiot!_

Once we were sure that everybody except us would be out of the snow, we popped our heads out. We both took identical, ridiculously massive breaths, looking around. Sam was standing right in front of me but facing away from me.

"I know a so-" we started to sing very loudly. Unfortunately that backfired. Sam was so shocked at the sudden noise that he whirled around, dropping his frying pan. On my head.

_Ouch._

The frying pan hitting me made me pop back into the snow, just like one of those jack-in-a-box things that you hit to make them go away again. I was pretty certain that Sam wouldn't have done it on purpose even if it hadn't been an accident, but I did have a mental image of me and Caeli repeatedly trying to pop up and sing while Sam whacked us over the head with a frying pan every time we emerged.

The offensive frying pan was quickly removed from my head and someone pulled me out of the snow. I looked around me, slightly dazed, and saw Caeli in hysterical laughter.

"Ariel, we were supposed to be singing, not being whacked over the head like one of those arcade games!" she scolded me. I mock-glared at her.

"So sorry to ruin your evening's entertainment," I told her sarcastically.

"Are you alright Ariel?" Legolas asked me, brushing the snow from my head. I nodded, then winced.

_For those of you lucky enough never to have been hit on the head with a frying pan, I can safely advise you a)not to try it and b)if you ARE stupid enough to try it, don't try and move your head afterwards. It hurts._

"Um, can I give you an answer to that after I find a paracetemol plant?" I asked. "No, those don't exist. Paracetemol is a pain-killing medicine," I told him, forestalling the question.

"So, let's take inventory of our journey up Caradhras," Caeli said. "Ten freezing Fellowship members plus one elf with eternal body temperature, eleven Fellowship members who have been stuck under a few oliphaunts worth of snow, four Fellowship members whose heads don't come up above the top of the snow, one Fellowship member who has been hit on the head with a frying pan, and one severely pissed off mountain. In closure, I would have to describe our situation as utterly ridiculous." Frodo smiled at her gratefully – Caeli had just made it very clear that continuing up the mountain would not be beneficial to the Fellowship.

"We shall go through the Mines," Frodo said tiredly. I looked at Gandalf and started to smile reassuringly, trying to tell him that the storyline was progressing as planned. I suddenly stopped smiling and looked at Gandalf in horror when I saw the expression on his face. Gandalf _knew_ that he would die in Moria. I suddenly remembered that from the book. He didn't know the exact details, but he knew that he wouldn't leave Moria alive. Gandalf looked up at me, and his expression told me that he knew that I knew that he knew – and that he didn't blame either me or Caeli for it. I jumped up and ran towards him, wrapping the wizard in a massive hug, trying not to cry. He hugged me back, and told me that whatever happened during the Quest, neither me or Caeli would be to blame for it. I smiled at him gratefully and hugged him one last time before letting him go so that we could walk down the mountain. Mountain-climbing, or mountain-descending if you want to be accurate, is rather difficult while hugging someone.

**Caeli's POV**

It was cold, so cold. Something I realised in Middle-earth was that it was like earth, but everything was taken to extremes – Middle-earth must be on too much pipeweed, it's permanently high. Anyway, what I'm saying is that in Middle-earth, the grass is literally greener, the sky is literally bluer, the sunsets are more spectacular, the water is clearer and… snow is colder!

I was trudging down the mountain with everyone else. Every step I took my foot sunk down into about half meter of snow and it would take all my strength to pull it back out again, by which time my other foot was stuck. I couldn't feel my hands or my feet and I was almost suffocating because I had tied my scarf round both my neck and my face, leaving only eyes exposed. Oh, and my ears were aching, they always do when I'm cold.

So, all in all I was in a thoroughly pissed-off mood, not helped by watching Legolas glide gracefully over the snow as if he were back in Rivendell. The hobbits, who were to be fair, having a worse time of it than me as their heads were that much closer to the snow, had seemed to become the joint responsibility of Boromir, Aragorn and Gandalf. Ariel was regularly being pulled out of the snow and into the embrace of the living hot water bottle sometimes called Legolas. That leaves two more members of our odd little group: Gimli and me.

We spent most of the time at the back of the Fellowship trudging miserably and grumbling to each other about elves. Yes, maybe it was envy, maybe we were being horrible, but maybe it was just that complaining makes you feel better.

"You know I suppose in a way we should be grateful, I mean at least we are capable of feeling cold, elves will never feel cold, they'll never know what it's like not to be able to feel your toes," I said gloomily.

"You're right they can't, but it's not a feeling I'd miss," replied Gimli equally gloomily.

"That's true, but I think that if I never had felt cold before, I'd like to know what it feels like," I said.

"Well, perhaps just for three seconds I would like to be cold," answered Gimli thoughtfully "but no longer than that for sure,"

"I wonder if Legolas had ever wondered what it's like to be cold," I said.

"I doubt an elf ever thinks about anything other than sunshine and flowers," said Gimli crossly.

"LEGOLAS!" I yelled to the front of the group were Legolas was walking with Ariel. He turned round, said something to Ariel and stopped walking to let us catch up with him.

"Are you ok?" he asked when we eventually reached him.

"Just wondering, do you ever wonder what it's like to be cold?" I asked him. He gave me a puzzled expression.

"We do get cold," he said.

"But you're warm!" I said indignantly.

"I still feel cold… a little cold," he replied.

"Hmph, a little cold! Elves have no appreciation for we go through!" said Gimli crossly. Legolas gave him a death-stare-of-doom look that Ariel would have doubtless been proud of.

"Ok, ok, cut it out," I said stepping between them before they began throwing axes/knives at each other, "Let's try for a little interracial harmony here shall we?"

"Gentlemen!" came Aragorn's voice. I coughed loudly and pointedly. "and lady," he added, good for him "we need to be going," he said. Legolas nodded in agreement and, after casting one last hateful look at Gimli, continued down the mountain. I however, wasn't going to give in so easily.

"But it's getting dark!" I whined - how do they put up with me? "can't we just stop here?" I pleaded, employing puppy dog eyes. Sadly, puppy-dog dog eyes don't work on future king-of-the-worlds.

"The snow is thinning out," he said. I looked down at my feet – didn't look like it to me, but then again, what did I know, mere mortal that I am, "We'll soon reach the rocks again, we can camp out there,"

_Whatever! Mr Know-it-all _I thought and reluctantly dragged my self down the last bit of the mountain.

After a while I began humming the tune to the great escape to myself, not that I knew that it was the great escape at the time, I was just humming whatever happened to come out of my head. Ariel heard it and soon joined in and soon we were basically shouting it. Soon the hobbits joined in and we all walked together in one long line all doing weird exaggerated marches whilst the rest of the fellowship gave us weird looks, oh well, we're used to it!

We were singing/shouting the great escape all the way down until the snow ran out and we were walking on rocks again and I promptly sat down on one of them and refused to budge.

"You promised!" I told Aragorn when he looked despairingly at me "and men of Gondor or Numenor or Rivendell or wherever you come from always keep their word,"

"I'd did promise," he said smiling "and we will stay here tonight,"

"Thank God!" exclaimed Ariel and began to get out her sleeping bag and mat.

I actually fell asleep very quickly considering the fact that I was lying on rocks, but then again, I had a good mat.

I was woken by Legolas at an unearthly hour of the morning. Without getting out of my sleeping bag I jumped over to where sausages were being handed out (you know that sort of potato sack jump you do in a sleeping bag?).

"Piss OFF!" came a shout from behind me. Boromir looked questioningly at me from over the campfire.

"That's Ariel saying good morning," I explained sarcastically. He nodded. Five minuets later she hopped over to join us, also still in her sleeping bag.

"Piss off!" greeted Boromir. I almost choked on my sausage. Ariel looked at Boromir as if he had arrived from Mars.

"That's how you say 'good morning' isn't it?" I asked her innocently "Just like you said to Legolas just now," I said winking.

"Oh sure, piss off!" she said back to Boromir with her biggest grin. Poor man.

"Which way do we go from here?" asked Merry. Everyone looked at Gandalf. Gandalf looked everyone, looked as if he was about to say something, then looked at Aragorn. Everyone looked at Aragorn. Aragorn looked at Gimli. Gimli became very interested in the rock below him. There was silence.

"Ok, who forgot the map?" I asked suddenly. Silence again.

"Oh well, you'll work it out, I have faith in you," said Ariel in an exaggeratedly serious way. And then went back to sitting by the fire. Aragorn, Gandalf and Gimli started discussing the route and pointing in all directions.

I flopped myself next to Boromir.

"So, how are you finding walking with a fellowship of men?" he asked.

"Probably much the same as you find walking with two girls," I said smiling cheekily.

"I see," he said "and how do you think I find that?"

"Annoying," I said simply.

"So you find us simply an annoyance?" He said looking amused.

"Well, I suppose you come with a few added bonuses such as carrying the food," I replied.

"What about knowing the way, I'm assuming you do not know the path to Mordor?" he asked. I simply looked pointedly over at the group who was still discussing which way to go. "I see what you mean," he said.

"But don't worry," I assured him "anyone who can kill an orc is in my good books, at least while I'm sitting in the middle of nowhere they are anyway,"

"You have a sword do you not?" he asked.

"I do, having the courage to use it is quite something else, though I'm afraid, orc-killing isn't really a big thing back where I come from,"

"I'm sure you'll be surprised what you can do if you are ever faced with a real orc,"

"When did you kill your first orc?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"About your age, a little younger maybe, it was a small skirmish near my city and my father sent me off for experience, I was never really in any danger because my father sent about ten soldiers just to look after me," he said, I laughed.

"It's amazing that you actually managed to kill anything then," I said.

"Well, I was there for experience so I did, but if my memory serves my correctly the orc in question was only half conscious anyway at the time,"

"You really are inspiring confidence in me Boromir,"

"I have successfully killed a few more since that day," he said smiling.

"That's good to hear, oh, I think they've decided which way to go!" I said standing up and stretching.

"If they had followed my directions at first," said Gimli "we would be standing at the gates of Moria by now!" I couldn't help agreeing with him. After all, when trying to find a hidden dwarven city, if dwarf you have, listen to him!

So we began to walk again.

"So why didn't you listen to the dwarf in the first place?" I asked Aragorn once I had caught up with him (he walks fast!).

"We couldn't be sure it's a while since he had been there, dwarves are not know for their memory,"

"I've never heard that they are particularly forgetful," I answered.

"I was referring to their memory as concerns direction," he answered shortly.

"Why did you eventually decide to take his word for it then?" I persisted.

"We agreed that we had no other choice," he replied.

"What took you so long then?" I asked.

"Would you rather be lost in the mists at the foot Caradhras than to take a small stop?" he asked slightly coldly. If he wasn't a King-to-be I would have said something not so polite at this point as he had won the argument, as it was I held my tongue and went over to Ariel.

"What are you so cross about?" she asked.

"Small disagreement with the KTB," I mumbled.

"What's the KTB?" she asked.

"King To Be," I whispered.

"Ara-" she begun

"Yup," I replied.

"I preferred FCOSS: future controller of sugar supplies myself," she said

"What if there's no sugar in Gondor?" I asked.

"No sugar in Gondor? I'll commit suicide!" she said looking distraught.

"BOROMIR!" we both yelled at the same time. He looked back at us in surprise.

"You have sugar in Gondor right?" I asked as soon as he had come up to us.

"Yes, yes there is, imported for the outer regions of Harad," he answered "Why do you ask?"

"Don't worry your little cotton socks about it," answered Ariel cheerfully patting him on the back.

"KTB is still shorter," I said once he had gone.

"Agreed," said Ariel.

And so the walking continued. And continued. And continued. And my feet hurt. And my back hurt. Everything hurt.

"Right, that's it!" I announced suddenly, coming to an abrupt halt. Everyone turned and stared at me. "We're stopping right here, now!" I said firmly and for the benefit of the members of the group who learnt visually I sat down by a boulder.

"We need to continue towards Moria so that we reach it by nightfall," said Gandalf. I was about to reply when Ariel beat me to it.

"Well, I'm not moving either!" she declared.

"Me too!" said Pippin

"Me three!" said Merry.

"It looks as if we do not have a choice as half our company is refusing to move," said the KTB.

"You're a wise guy KTB!" I congratulated. He frowned at me. "Well we have to give you at least one name to add to your collection!" I said

"If not more than one!" said Ariel.

"A brief rest then, but we must not stay for long, the sky is already beginning to darken," said Gandalf.

_Thank you for pointing that out to me oh great wizard of wisdom, I would have never noticed otherwise._

I sighed and looked over to where Legolas was talking to Ariel. She suddenly burst out laughing. I smiled and begun fiddling with my bracelet from Glorfindel. I looked down at it. It was glowing with its usual soft golden reassuring glow. I rubbed my fingers over the little golden flower attached to it, beaming like a small golden sun, the symbol of Glorfindel's house.

I heard Gandalf come over and sit next to me.

"You miss him," he said. I said nothing, it seemed to be more of a statement than a question. "I realise that it is no consolation, but he misses you," he said. I smiled.

"I wish…I wish he could be here now, be teleported be some kinda magic elven thing, I don't care how,"

"Fate has chosen that he is not part of the fellowship," said Gandalf

"But why? Why not? I mean, who decides fate anyway? It can be changed can't it? People can change it?" I said angrily "It's… it's just unfair!"

"If you were allowed to decide fate what would you do?" the wizard asked.

"I would make him be here of course!" I said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What if he does not want to be here?" Gandalf asked calmly.

"What?" I asked confused "Why wouldn't he want to be here? Are you saying doesn't love me becau-"

"No," interrupted Gandalf "No, I am not suggesting anything of the sought, I know he loves you very much, he has told me so himself." I couldn't help smiling at this point, "I'm am merely suggesting that he realises what you do not, that there are reason that he must stay in Rivendell, things that must be allowed to happen…" he said looking pointedly at me. I frowned, puzzled. "Ah, we have rested for long enough, we must be moving," he said getting up.

Things that must be allowed to happen… 

"Are you ok Caeli?" came Legolas's voice. I blinked and looked up. Legolas was standing in front of me and the rest of the fellowship were already on their feet. Ariel waved a hand in front of me.

"Middle-earth to Caeli!" she called.

"Hmmm," I said, letting Legolas pull me up. "Just something Gandalf said," I mumbled.

"He speaks in riddles, don't trouble yourself so much, you need to focus on walking," said Legolas. I nodded dreamily and walked ahead.

_OK, so what's going to happen, we're going to find the wall of Moria, that's a good thing, the entrance will cave in that's a bad thing, but Glorfindel could hardly stop that. He couldn't stop the cave troll coming, he could kill it probably, but it's going to be killed anyway. Couldn't stop the Balrog coming but… oh, he's the balrog slayer… maybe he could… but then Gandalf wouldn't fall… and he needs to… so that's why! But wait, how could Glorfindel know exactly what's going to happen in the future?_

I walked over to Gandalf.

"So you've worked out what I mean now have you?" he asked smiling his Grandfather smile; I was suddenly struck by how much I was going to miss him.

"Umm, sort of, I just don't get…I mean…does he, or you for that matter know what's going to happen in the future? Because otherwise I don't see how…" I trailed off. Gandalf put an arm around me.

"People who have lived in Valinor, the Istari of which I am one, Glorfindel and Galadriel among others have a certain gift for sensing what could happen," he explained.

"So you can see into the future?" I asked. _Why does no one in Middle-earth speak directly?_

"Not exactly, it's a rather hazy view," he said "For example, I can tell that there is danger for me in Moria," he paused "and I know I may not come out again," he said. I looked into his old face and thought that he looked remarkably calm for a guy who knew he was going to die, maybe he knew he would come back. "I think Glorfindel similarly knows that he should not join the fellowship for a reason that, maybe he does and maybe he doesn't know," said Gandalf.

"Like female intuition but for Valinor people," I said. Gandalf smiled.

"Yes, something like that." he replied. Just then I heard a shriek from the front of the group. Ariel was staring at what at first just looked like a wet slimy rock a metre in front of her.

"What is it?" I asked going forward to join her. Then, the rock, which wasn't a rock, moved. Both of us immediately jumped back a few steps. It was a snake. A very big one.

"It's just a snake," said Boromir coming forward to look at it. I pulled him back quickly.

"I think it could be an-" I begun, recognising it's zigzag pattern on its scales.

"Adder, it's an adder, it's poisonous," she said backing off even more.

"How would know?" asked Boromir, taking another step forward.

"It's called zoos!" I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him back again "Trust me!"

"Men!" Ariel and I both sighed at the same time.

"So there's a deadly snake-" said Merry

"And its only deadly to humans," chipped in Pippin "Imagine what it could do to hobbits!"

"You can't get worse than deadly Pippin," assured Sam "and thank God for that!"

"Blocking our only path," continued Merry.

"We could just kick it off the path," Boromir suggested.

"Nah, it would probably bite before you came near, they move very fast," I said. He gave me a puzzled look. "Nature programmes, don't worry," I explained quickly.

"We could get the elf to kick it," said Gimli. The KTB, Legolas, Ariel and I all gave Gimli a very clear that-is most defiantly-NOT-an-option looks. "Ok, ok, I was just trying to be helpful!" Gimli protested.

Suddenly Gandalf took out his staff and pointed it at the snake. A bolt of light flashed out of the end of his staff and hit snake. It immediately scurried off the path and down the cliff.

"Cool!" Ariel and I exclaimed in unison. The hobbits looked shocked.

"Don't worry Sam, it is completely unharmed, perhaps a little stunned but no worse for wear than having a pint too much ale, shall we continue?" said the old wizard cheerfully, leading the group on. I looked at Ariel and Ariel looked at me, I could tell we were both thinking the same thing:

Snakes drink beer? 

Middle-earth is weirder than Tolkien lets on.

Apologies:

Ala: Sorry//grovels/

Tin: Sorry//grovels/

Our updates recently have been sporadic to say the least. It's ALL down to exams. I invite you, fine readers, to visit the sites for AQA, Edexcel, OCR and any other exam board you can think of and e-mail and complain, because it's their fault, they set the exams we're doing. An e-mail of complaint to the British Government may speed up updates as well, but no promises.

The number one scientifically proven, clinically tested, expertly approved method of getting faster updates is reviewing of course!

Btw, are any of our readers taking GCSE's right now? If you are, good luck!

PS Ala meant to say this AGES ago, because she did this just for you, her music coursework is dedicated to Glorfindel. Yep! It actually says at the top of one of her music scores that she submitted 'Dedicated to Glorfy':D – please pray for an examiner who has a sense of humour!

PPS Ala highly disapproves of the nickname 'Glorfy' but feels that in some exceptional circumstances (such as when there is no room at the top of a score) if it must be shortened, then it can be. On this point (and perhaps this point only) Caeli agrees with Ala, and so you will not see her referring to Glorfindel with: Glorfy, Glorf, Glor, Glory /shudders/ or any other mutation of his original name: Glorfindel. Thank you.


	24. Chapter 24

Ariel: La la la la LA!

Elrond: So, Ariel, what did you take today?

Ariel: Nothing, I'm on a diet! HA HA HA/hysterical laughing/

Elrond: Watch out everyone! She's gone crazy!

Glorfindel: What do you mean, GONE crazy? You can't seriously think she was sane before!

Ala: Don't be mean to her/looks menacing/

Elrond: Oh, and what are you going to do to us if we are?

Ala/holds up pink frilly dress/ Watch your mouth, Elrond, or your secret's out!

Elrond: Thank goodness you found it! I was wondering where it went… ummmmm I mean what secret?

Ala/smirks/

Caeli: So now we've finished threatening Elf Lords of Power with Rings, let's go to Colchester!

Tin: Or Canterbury!

Caeli: Uh, why?

Tin: They're near enough…

Caeli: Uh, isn't one in England and the other in Wales?

Ariel/rolls eyes/ I never thought I'd be reduced to doing this… ALA AND TIN DON'T OWN IT!

**Chapter 24**

**Ariel POV**

I am BORED. Bordetty bordetty bored. Very very bored.

"I'm sick of walking," Caeli announced. We still had another day of walking until we'd get to the mines. Inspiration struck.

_Hopetty hopetty hop!_

I started hopping. Caeli looked at me oddly for a moment then grinned and began to hop too. We hopped along for a while until Pippin noticed.

"Why are you hopping?" he asked.

"We're bored of walking," I replied. Pippin grinned and poked Merry. Soon all four hobbits were hopping. So really they were hoppits not hobbits. But that wasn't relevant as I'm telling you the story of the crazy hoppers… anyway, we were hopping and it was fun.

"What are you all doing?" Aragorn finally asked. I grinned.

"We're hopping because we're bored of walking!" Caeli announced.

"And you have to hop too," I told him firmly. He did that kingly raising-an-eyebrow thing.

"It's a majority vote because there's six of us hopping and five of you walking, so you have to hop too!" Caeli told him firmly. Aragorn sighed.

"Caeli, there is absolutely no way I am going to hop," he told her.

"We shall have our revenge if you don't…" I threatened, then turned to Legolas. "Legolas, how many years will it take for Erestor to turn back to normal?"

"Uh… maybe a few centuries?" he said guiltily. The dye we had used to dye Erestor was normally used to dye elvish dresses. As those lasted centuries, so did the dye. Erestor was going to be feeling a little blue for a long, long time…

Heeheehee! snicker 

"Why should I have to hop just because you want to?" Aragorn asked childishly.

It is really sad how me and Caeli can make the most responsible of heroes act like six year olds.

"What happened to 'let the Ringbearer decide'? I asked, and looked at Frodo, silently begging him to back me up.

"Fine, let the ringbearer decide! But I warn you, Ariel, Frodo is a lot more sensible than you!" the KTB said. Caeli whispered to Frodo, who broke out in a grin.

"We shall hop to the mines!" he announced. I cracked up laughing at that mangled quote. Caeli had obviously told Frodo what to say. Aragorn glared at Frodo and reluctantly started hopping.

After a while of the Fellowship hopping, I got bored again and snuck up behind Caeli.

"BOO!" I yelled and poked her in the side. She screamed and that attracted the attention of the entire Fellowship, who turned around with their swords out.

Uh oh… 

"Don't kill me!" I begged. Caeli whacked me over the head and turned to the Fellowship.

"Don't kill her!" she said, not noticing that they'd already put their swords away. I grinned and sauntered off to talk to Legolas.

"You aren't hopping any more," I told him with a grin. He shook his head.

"We will be at the door to Moria in a few hours. I do not intend to walk through the dwarven mines on one foot," he said. I smiled. Obviously the dwarf-elf rivalry was still going.

"Legolas, can I ask you something?" I asked tentatively. Something had been bugging me ever since I read the Silmarillion, but I had a feeling that he might find it offensive.

"I take it that you are worried about my reaction to your question?" he said.

Bloody observant elf.

"Well… the Elves are the Firstborn. But didn't Aule make the dwarves before the Elves woke up, then put them back to sleep? So technically, weren't the Dwarves the Firstborn?" I asked. Legolas shook his head.

"No, as the Firstborn and Secondborn are the races created by Eru, not by the Valar," Legolas explained.

_Oh…. That makes sense…_

"So you're not going to shoot me for asking?" I asked. Legolas grinned and shook his head.

"I have better ways to make you be quiet than shooting you," he said. I batted my eyelashes at him in my best fangirl imitation.

"Feel free to demonstrate them, Prince Legolas," I said in a stupid, giggly Mary-Sueish voice.

Legolas stopped kissing me a minute later when Gandalf whacked him with the staff.

"You two are going to make us late arriving at the mines!" he told us sternly. I bit back the laugh.

_We're late, we're late, for a very important date! We mustn't miss our tea party (using delicate china, of course) with the dwarves! Honestly, we're not on a timeline here! Oh, shit, we are. Bugger bugger bugger!_

I had to admit, the Fellowship's attitude towards women was very nice when someone was about to get whacked. It was never me or Caeli, because the others didn't want to hit a woman. Which I was very thankful for, because they were all pretty strong.

After a few more fun-filled hours of walking (yippee) we arrived at the doors of Moria. I nervously stared at the water, trying to see if the Watcher was there. Thankfully it seemed to be asleep.

I sighed and flopped down next to Caeli, then squealed like a fangirl in surprise.

"I thought it was stony here?" I asked her in a whisper. She shrugged.

"Well, sand is a lot more comfy to sit on than stones," she told me. I had to agree with that one. Gandalf looked down at us.

"You two know the password, don't you," he said. Me and Caeli both mimed zipping our mouths shut.

"You said yourself we shouldn't mess with the story," Caeli said sadly. Gandalf sighed and nodded.

Sitting on sand was boring. Sitting on slimy grey sand with a squid hiding nearby was not boring, more terrifying. However, sand is sand and buckets are buckets. Mix the two together and you have instant fun.

I scooped up sand and put it into one of Sam's saucepans. He glared at me.

"What are you doing, Miss Ariel?" he asked. No one had any luck in getting Sam to quit with the titles.

"I'm making a sandcastle, seeing as no one knows the password and we could be here for a while," I told him. "Don't worry, I'll wash them nice and clean for you."

After a day outside Moria, most of the major settlements in Middle-earth were sitting next to us. Caeli and I were having a… discussion… on whether or not the Fellowship would object to us building Barad-dur. I vaguely remembered some discussion we'd had years ago, when we were comparing the evil Barad-dur to the evil top bunk bed that represented all early bedtimes.

"Do you remember Barad-bed, Caeli?" I asked. She gave me an odd look before a look of comprehension crossed her face.

"Barad-bed! That was when we went to that place with my parents and sat in the smoky pub for hours, wasn't it?" she said. I grinned.

"Yes indeedy. Let's build Barad-bed!" I announced. Half an hour later, a sand version of a bunk bed was sitting next to Caeli.

_Ok, I'm bored of building sandcastles. Need inspiration… need inspiration… aha!_

I piled up all the sand I could get my hands on around me and Caeli and began shaping it. She looked at me oddly for a while then realised I was building a fort. Needless to say, by the time we were finished, it was very well decorated. We had a nice little fort with battlements and an empty moat (unfortunately we couldn't find a mini-crocodile) and it was about a foot high. We fell asleep inside our fort happily and I had nice dreams of crocodiles battling cave trolls in a Roman gladiator arena while me and Caeli did the commentary in bad American accents, talking into hairbrushes instead of microphones.

"Speak friend and enter…" Frodo said slowly the next day. "Gandalf, what's the Elvish word for friend?" he asked. Me and Caeli exchanged high fives.

"Mellon," Gandalf said. The doors creaked open. Everyone stood up and started walking into the mines. I promptly fell over again as my legs were completely numb, and crashed into Caeli. While we struggled with our numb legs to try and stand up, the Fellowship rushed back out of the mine. I stared at the water. The water was rippling towards us.

"Go in!" I yelled instinctively. Everyone stopped and stared at me. Then the Watcher attacked.

"Strider!" Sam yelled as Frodo was dragged off by the Watcher. Me and Caeli stood up and tried to run towards the mine. Unfortunately, the fort was still there. So we tripped over it and fell flat on our faces. I tried to get up and stopped when Caeli screamed.

"Help!" she yelled. Then a slimy tentacle grabbed me by the ankle and I was whisked up into the air. Me, Caeli and Frodo were swung around for a few seconds until the Watcher opened its mouth. Its breath _stank_. Frodo was cut free, then me and Caeli. I screeched as I went flying through the air and then stopped when I was caught. I smiled at Gandalf when I realised he'd caught me.

"Into the mines!" he yelled, and I winced. He was much too close to my ear to be yelling that loudly. The Watcher slammed the doors closed and dust fell from the ceiling. Now I knew why Legolas, who seemed to be eternally clean, was dirty by the time he got out of Moria.

_Being carried into an evil hole in the ground sure isn't too much fun. Although I suppose it's easier on my feet than walking into an evil hole in the ground on my own._

"Thanks for catching me," I whispered to Gandalf, once he put me down. I wasn't really sure why I was whispering. Actually, yes I was. It was something to do with goblins, orcs, and a Balrog.

"You're welcome," he muttered back to me, then lit up the place with his staff. I stared around. Dead dwarves with arrows stuck through them are not a pretty sight. Ok, live dwarves with no arrows in them whatsoever aren't a pretty sight either, but dead ones with arrows were much uglier.

I looked over to see what Caeli thought of the gory scenery and glared at her. Legolas had caught her and she was holding onto him in fake fear to irritate me. I smirked at her when he let go of her and came over to me.

"Are you alright, Ariel?" he asked worriedly. "Did the Watcher hurt you?" I shook my head.

"No, just grossed me out. That thing has really bad breath," I said. Legolas smiled.

"Only you, Ariel. Only you would worry about the Watcher's bad breath when it's about to eat you," he said. I grinned.

"I wasn't worrying. I was thinking that it should be. I did think about offering it a breath mint but then I realised I don't have any here," I babbled.

_To be honest, I was terrified. And how often do I admit that I'm terrified? Not too often. It's a lot more fun to just pretend you're happy and maybe if you pretend hard enough you'll start to believe it._

"You're babbling," he told me. "And that means that you're worried. So stop pretending that you weren't scared, because I can tell that you were." I bit my lip.

"Fine. I was scared. I still am. I'm completely and totally terrified because there are a whole lot of creatures in this world that carry swords and want to kill me. I don't belong here. This is the Fellowship, there's supposed to be nine of you. No girls, no me, no Caeli. Right now, I know what's going to happen to everyone except me. I'm probably going to die within the next few months and even if I do survive, I don't know how to act. I'm no lady, I don't know fancy manners, I don't even know how women in this world dress. If me and Caeli both survive this quest, we'll be freaks on our own in a strange world. And if she dies I'll have no one," I whispered miserably as we started walking. Legolas hugged me.

"Don't be silly. You'll always have me. And Ariel, if you behaved and dressed like an elven lady you wouldn't be you. Everyone here likes you and that includes your mannerisms," he told me firmly. I shook my head.

"No they don't," I muttered in his ear so that no one else could hear. "You know perfectly well that they all think I'm a childish waste of space. They're probably right. All I do is make people laugh. That's all I'm good at, and it's a fairly useless talent. There isn't much use for laughter in Mordor." Legolas sighed.

"Haven't you considered that happiness makes it much easier for people to complete their tasks? It will be much easier for Frodo to destroy the Ring if he is cheerful. The Ring preys on our negative emotions and persuades us that it will destroy them. If Frodo is happy then the pull of the Ring on him will be much weaker," Legolas told me.

_Yes, except that he'll be going off on his own. And that still doesn't help the whole 'going to get killed in – well, probably 4 days, but if I survive that – less than two months time._

"I suppose… I'm still scared though," I admitted. We were at the back of the group and we were talking quietly, so I didn't mind admitting being scared. Legolas sighed.

"I wish we could leave these mines," he said. "I hate being underground. I want to see the sky, see trees, lie on the balcony of my room in Mirkwood watching the stars. I have never liked being cooped up."

_The only time that being an elf must suck is when you're underground. Which will suck majorly._

The journey through the Mines was… it wasn't boring, I'll give it that. It wasn't pleasant. It was scary. And travelling with eight males who hadn't had a bath since the last stream we found (Legolas, being an elf, didn't smell) wasn't so fun either.

The high point of the journey through Moria was when Gandalf didn't know which way to go. I was actually happy there, because I didn't know which way he was going to go, because I couldn't remember. But it was definitely nice not having the constant urge to tell people where to go, because I didn't know myself. Plus, I got to spend twenty four hours sitting on Legolas, as he was much more comfy than a rock. Caeli glared at me a few times because she had to make do with the comfiest rock.

_Well, sorry Caeli, but there isn't all that much choice for you. You can't sit on Legolas, he's mine to sit on. Aragorn is engaged to Arwen and Gimli needs a bath. The hobbits would be squashed if you sat on one of them because they're so small, and Gandalf is ten thousand years older than you. Boromir probably has a fiancée back in Minas Tirith, and I doubt that he'd be comfortable with you sitting on him. Be glad that as the only girl who doesn't have someone to sit on, the others all fell over themselves to give you the best rock space._

Being underground was definitely making me grumpy. The time I'd spent in Middle-earth had made me appreciate being outside. I figured that when you spent six months constantly seeing the beauty that got spoiled back home, you ended up wanting to be outside all the time. Plus, I was getting very claustrophobic by the time Gandalf had to stop to figure out which way to go, and I snapped at people if they startled me.

When Gandalf decided which way to go, we all followed him down the dark little passageway. It suddenly went narrow, and I stopped and stared at it. I turned to Legolas, who was behind me, and told him there was no way I could go down there.

"Why? It's wide enough for Aragorn and Boromir to squeeze through, you'll fit easily," he told me. Caeli rolled her eyes at him.

"Isn't it a little obvious that she doesn't like small spaces?" she asked, in her perfected 'DUH' tone of voice. I looked gratefully at her.

Needless to say, I ended up going through the passageway, although I was walking backwards with my face buried in Legolas' shoulder. If I couldn't see the walls moving in on me, I had no proof that they were moving in on me, so I could walk through the passage. The passage widened out and then we were in Dwarrowdelf.

"Wow, I bet it was really nice down here before," I said to Caeli quietly. She nodded. The movie Dwarrowdelf was impressive, but not half as impressive as the real one. It wasn't just a bunch of pillars as far as the eye could see. The pillars were much wider, and there were doors carved into them. Presumably those had once been either shops or houses. There were ornate staircases leading down, and the ceiling had veins of metal running through it.

We walked down into the massive hall, staring around. Gimli had a big smile on his face as he looked around, obviously proud of the amazing city his ancestors had created. Then he yelled out and ran into the room where Balin's tomb was.

The room was full of corpses. The light from the window made the room seem so sad. It reminded me of seeing the graveyards for the soldiers who died in the first world war. The light just seemed to remind me that the dwarves had died defending their home from evil. Gandalf translated the runes on the tomb, although I already knew what they said. Then he picked up the book.

I looked at Caeli, who had turned white. It was quite an achievement actually, turning that pale. I would have bet that I looked like a ghost.

"We cannot get out," Gandalf pronounced. Pippin then dropped the bucket and skeleton down the well. "Fool of a Took!" Gandalf yelled at him. Pippin looked guilty.

BOOM.

If it was possible, I turned paler, and so did Caeli. The eyes of the entire Fellowship widened.

"Drums in the deep," I quoted quietly.

BOOM.

"We cannot get out," Caeli said as Aragorn and Boromir barred the door. Suddenly I found myself wrapped in a giant hug. "Don't you dare die, Ariel," she told me.

"Don't you die either," I told her, and then pointed an arrow at the door. The doors opened.

Goblins and orcs were the ugliest creatures I'd ever seen. They were worse than in the movie. They reeked of evil and the gleam in their eyes made it obvious that they wanted to kill something. Us.

When I had a clear shot at an orc, I shot it. It was probably the most accurate shot I'd ever made. I stared at the dead orc and froze.

_I just killed something._

_I just killed something that could think._

_I just became a murderer._

**Caeli POV**

Everything was happening too fast, Boromir was barring the gate then an orc spear came through the doors, one of Legolas's arrows sailed straight through the door and there was an almighty shriek from the other side.

"Stay close to Gandalf!" yelled Aragorn. _Good idea _I thought and backed myself up next to him. Gandalf himself was radiating confidence, wiseness and scariness, everything you want in a battle. The hobbits and I crowded a little closer. I wanted to reach for some imaginary volume control and turn down the sound of the orc's shrieks. They sounded a bit like angry foxes, they had a horrible high pitched yell.

I could see the door being slowly battered down. I drew my sword and then backed further towards the wall. I took a few deep breaths and tried to remember my sword lessons with Glorfindel. The problem was, it was a bit like when you're rushing to finish a test and there's one question left which you know you know the answer to, you've just got to remember it and so you try and think really hard before the time runs out. The only problem is, you're thinking about rushing instead of thinking about the question. I had the same problem in that room, I wasn't thinking of the weeks of sword training, I was thinking about the fact that I had less than a minute before the goblins smashed through our only defence.

_Ok, aim for the neck, I remember that, the armour is always weaker there… but what if Moria goblin's orcs are strongest at the neck? He wouldn't know that! _I thought.

_Glorfindel, if you were to magically teleport yourself here, that would be great timing you know that? Not that I would want to put you in harms ways or anything, but I have a whole lot more faith in you than in me._

Suddenly the first goblin broke through. I was ugly beyond description and totally mutilated. I screamed. The orc fell before it was a metre through the door, Legolas's arrow imbedded in it's chest. Another three more orcs rushed through the door straight after the first trampling on it's body. The first orc fell again with a arrow in it's head, but this time from… Ariel?

"Ariel!" I shouted. I had assumed she was round by Gandalf as well somewhere but in fact she was nearer the front by Legolas, standing ready with her bow. However, I had no time to register where my friend was because then the door came thudding down and all hell broke loose.

I backed myself up against a wall, my brain had gone into survival mode and all I wanted to do was get the hell out. I felt Gandalf grab me and pull me forward towards the orcs.

"Never back yourself up against a wall, ever" he said firmly. I had just enough time to nod briefly in acknowledgement before and an orc ran straight for me and skewered itself on my sword. I hadn't even moved since Gandalf had moved me, the bloody (literally) orc had committed suicide! I pulled my sword out of the orc and tried not to look at the mess of blood and… other things… on it's blade.

In my brief pause another orc had come up to me and it slashed at my with it's sword, I tried to parry it but I was too late, the sword cut my shoulder. It wasn't a deep cut, but it hurt and it made me very angry.

"That fucking HURT!" I yelled at the orc. It looked bewildered for a moment (guess people don't usually stop for a chat during a battle) and in the pause I followed Glorfindel's advice to the letter: I raised my sword, and cut of it's head. I felt a tingle of achievement, one less orc in Middle-earth. Then I noticed that I had one headless orc in front of me (yes it stayed standing for a moment) so I kicked it down out of my sight. Yuck!

Then I noticed Ariel in front of me. She was standing absolutely still, bow in hand.

"Ariel!" I yelled, running up to her and shaking her.

"I killed it…" she murmured in a barely audible whisper. I just looked at her confused for a second. Then Legolas came and grabbed her and pulled her back to the edge of the room.

"She's in shock," he shouted back to me "I'll look after her," I watched Legolas try to find a safe spot, then I saw his eyes become fixed on a point behind me. I wheeled round quickly and plunging my sword into the goblin's stomach. The goblin shrieked, then fell to the ground.

A ran towards another orc, swore at it, ducked under its sword, then cut of its head. _I'm getting the hang of this, swear, duck, cut off head!_

This technique seemed to work for the next three orcs, then I parried another orc's sword but I wasn't strong enough, my sword fell out of my hand. In the back of my head I could hear Glorfindel's voice

"_Whatever, you do, don't lose your sword, keep it with you all the times, if you drop it take out your daggers,"_

At the time I had drawn both my daggers at once, Hollywood style and thrown them at a target, they collided in mid air and fell to the ground. Back in the hall in Moria I reached down to my hips to draw the daggers as I had done then, but no daggers.

"Bugger!" I muttered, then, ignoring another of Glorfindel's rules 'never turn your back on an enemy' I turned round and ran away. The orc followed, shrieking at me for a few meters and then I heard it thump down dead on the ground. I turned and saw an axe imbedded in it's back.

Gimli came over to collect his axe and handed me my sword at the same time.

"Thank you! Thankyouthankyou!" I said it relief taking my sword back. The dwarf nodded then violently swung his axe into the head of an orc to the right of him. I turned for my next orc. We were in combat for about a minute and I could tell I was slowly losing.

_Oh my God I am going to die! Why didn't I practise sword fighting more? And why the hell isn't Glorfindel here? Goddamned elves!_

The orc was faster and stronger than me. Then I had an idea.

"Hey look over there!" I said pointing behind the orc. If I was in earth, the orc would have never fallen for it, but this was middle-earth, and the trick wasn't used so much, the orc turned and I pushed my sword into it's back.

As soon as that orc fell another one came towards me.

"You know you've got some rust on your armour?" I asked it, making direct I eye contact with its large, coal-black eyes. Evidently not used to being spoken to directly it stopped in its tracks. I used this time, to effectively skewer it.

"Interesting technique," said Aragorn from in front of me as he finished off two orcs at once. I winked at him and turned to see if Ariel was ok she was pressed up against a wall, looking in horror at the scene around her. Legolas was standing next to her and seemed to be decapitating orcs at a rate of one every two seconds, Ariel was in safe hands, lucky her.

I turned for my next orc, but that was the moment the cave troll entered.

"SHIT!" I shouted and then panicked. Now, if you're have ever been a girl on earth you doubtless know the number one rule of panicking: when in doubt, cry. However, cave trolls are not the most emotional creatures of all Eru's creation, so I have a new rule: when in doubt in middle-earth, run!

And so I ran, dodging falling stonework as I went. I ran up to Ariel.

"Are you ok?" she asked me.

"Yeah, but I won't be for long," I looked back at the cave troll. It was smashing everything in its path and slowly coming closer to us.

"Time to move!" shouted Ariel over the racket. We both ran together towards another wall.

"So, what happened to the all fighting and killing Caeli I saw a second ago?" she asked as we caught our breath by the wall.

"Umm…. she got scared by the cave troll, little to big for me, I think Caeli the coward is more likely to get me out alive- RUN!" I shouted as the cave trolls axe came down on a column near us. A large chunk of debris landed n my foot.

"Fuck that hurt!" I said moving out of the way. Ariel was coughing up dust next to me. I gave her a heavy thump on the back.

"Oww!" she said.

"No problem!" I shouted back.

"Caeli, orc behind you!" shouted Ariel. I spun round and saw a huge orc with protruding black eyes making for us. I drew my sword and tried to parry it's first blow but it knocked the sword out of my hand.

"Umm… Ariel?" I said as I watched the orc walk towards us slowly with a hue grin on its face, obviously savouring the moment.

"Would running be a good idea?" she suggested. The orc raised its sword.

"YES!" I shouted and we both ran, again. The problem was when we ran forward there were more orcs in front of us.

"Left!" shouted Ariel and with both ran away as if our lives depended on it, which they did. But then our path was cut of by the Mr giant ugly king of zits, the cave troll.

"Wrong way! Backwards!" I shouted and turned, bumping into Ariel in the process who was still running forwards because she was behind, if you know what I mean. If you're totally lost, then you have some idea of the chaos in that room. Anyway, I ended up on the floor on top of a dead orc.

"I think I'm going to be sick…" I mumbled as I struggled to get up.

"Well right now you've got more important things to do, running comes to mind," said Ariel from next to me. I looked up, there was a goblin thing wielding an axe rushing towards us. In a rare moment of inspiration, I unsheathed a dagger from the dead orc lying beneath me and hurled it at the approaching goblin. It hit him on the shoulder and although it wasn't enough to kill him it knocked him down. I was about to find my sword so that I could finish him off when an elven arrow imbedded itself in its head. I looked up at Legolas but he had already turned to the troll and was firing three arrows at a time at it. I looked over at Ariel who was staring in admiration at Legolas

"You've certainly found yourself a decent guy," I said. She nodded dreamily. I waved my hand in front of her eyes. She continued to stare. I rolled my eyes. Then I saw cracks developing in the column in front of us.

"Ok Ariel, snap out of it!" I said. She looked the direction I was pointing.

"Why of all columns in the whole room, the whole of Moria, the whole of…"

"Not particularly fair is it?" I said, echoing her sentiments as we both watched the cracks get bigger in a sort mild disinterest.

"Are you going to move or not!" shouted Boromir suddenly from a few meters away. That snapped us out of our temporary state of blanked-outness and we ran out of the way of the crumbling column.

Running: something we were getting rather good at.

After the column collapsed I heard a sort of pause in the action. I looked round. Frodo had just been stabbed and the cave troll was standing over him. A second later everyone was attacking the cave troll full on. That is everyone apart from the two girls in the room of course.

"Why don't we sit this one out?" I suggested as I watched the cave troll being violently attacked by some of the best warriors in Middle-earth.

"I agree, I'm exhausted," said Ariel and she sat down on a part of the fallen column.

"I'm starting to she black specks in front of my eyes," I complained "and you know that feeling when you can feel your heart beat really strongly?"

"Uh huh?" she said tiredly.

"Well I've got that," I said, panting.

"Yup," she answered. "Oh look," she said, pointing at cave troll who was at last falling to the ground.

"At last, I need to sleep," I said, burying my face in my hands.

"Tell me about it." she said. Then came a loud BOOM as the cave troll fell to the ground.

"We survived our first battle," I said, watching the dust swirl around the corpse of the cave troll.

"We did!" she said, sounding more cheerful. We did a tired kinda high five.

"Guys!" I called over to the rest of the fellowship who were running over the Frodo.

"He's fine!" said Ariel.

"We however, feel like mushy peas that have been have been left out too long," I whispered to Ariel and she smiled.

"How are you, are you are ok?" asked Legolas running up to us. Ariel got up and was hugged tightly by Legolas.

"I take it you haven't hurt that perfect elven body of yours?" she asked him affectionately and he shook his head and they kissed.

_Aww, it's enough to warm the coldest, wettest, badly built dwarven underground burial chamber!_

"Are you ok?" asked Aragorn, walking up to me.

"Umm, well, my favourite white jumper is totally ruined for ever, I've got cuts on every part of my body and I can't move my right elbow properly. Nothing serious though, how are you?"

"Better than you I think," he answered.

Then the shrieks began. I groaned.

"To the bridge of Khazad-Dum!" said Gandalf. And you know how we were going to get to said bridge, go on guess. We ran.

What, you guessed? No, you must be physic or something. Please note the sarcasm dripping off every word of those last sentences.

I felt a bit like Indiana Jones, running from evil monsters that had lain dormant for hundreds of years until we came along and now in true Indiana style, the building was collapsing around us as we escaped. One difference from Indiana Jones though, little Indy never had to deal with orcs, crazy tribes that wanted to make a human sacrifice of him maybe, but never orcs.

Orcs were flowing like angry rivers down the columns and popping out of holes in the ground everywhere. Suddenly there was a line of orcs right in front of us. I stopped and turned around, the hobbits obviously hadn't notice I'd stopped and they all crashed into me and so I found myself face to face with the floor of Moria for the second time that day. However this time when I got up it wasn't just one orc in front of me, it was hundreds. Gimli was swinging his axe and seemed to be ready to take the lot of them on single-handed, however, I didn't share his enthusiasm.

"Five, four…" I heard Ariel whispering beside me.

"What?" I whispered back.

"I timed his entrance exactly in the movie," she explained quickly. "One… cue Mr possibly winged overlarge fiery chicken,"

Right on time there was a deep foreboding roar from the end of the hall and an orange glow came from round the corner. Still the orcs immediately scampered back to where they had come from and the fellowship was left alone in the hall.

"What new devilry is this?" asked Boromir, looking truly terrified, I mean Sean Bean is a good actor and all but you can only really look terrified when you are.

"A Balrog," said Gandalf slowly. _Ah, here it is. The dramatic pause moment… or moments in fact._

Then I noticed a curious thing, Gandalf's hat was not on his head but seemed to be bobbing around behind him. I looked behind his back and of course who did I see but Ariel proudly modelling the latest fashion: wizard gear.

"I wanna try that!" I whispered and took it off her head.

"Finders keepers!" she said grabbed the other end of it and tried to yank it back.

"That rule doesn't exactly apply when the owner of the article in question standing less than a meter away from you," I said pulling on my end of the hat.

"But I got it off him!" she whispered back.

"I just want to try it on, I mean how many opportunities do you get in life of wearing a real wizard's hat?" I asked.

"You're not getting any opportunities!" she said pulling at the hat. Then I realised that I must have missed the rest of the wizard's speech (dramatic pauses inclusive) because I suddenly heard him shout:

"Run!" all the others turned round to run and then they all saw us. I was at the pointy end of Gandalf's hat and Ariel was at the other and it must have looked like we were playing tug-of-war with it, which we were, but that's beside the point. Anyway most of the fellowship and looked in confusion at us. The one member of the fellowship who knew us well enough to realise that this was just normal behaviour from us (that being Legolas of course) ignored us. Pippin totally failed to notice the hat between us and tripped over it as he ran to get out, thus splitting the hat in two.

We both stared at our respective halves of the hat for a moment, then there was another rumble from the far end of the hall, this time louder.

"Run!" we screamed together and then proceeded to follow our own good advice to the letter and ran out of the hall and onto the stairs.

A note about the stairs, they aren't nearly as easy to run down as the film would have had you believe. For one, they're a lot narrower and for a second, even if you're not scared of heights (as I am thankfully not) they're scary. There's something about not being able to see the bottom of the what your standing on because you're so high up that scares even the most valiant fighter. That's me by the way.

Every time we turned a corner I just wanted to close my eyes and not look, although it's not a very good idea, so I didn't. Just as I was beginning to wonder if it was going to be like the book, with no gap in the stairs, we halted abruptly.

"Oh shit," I said. Legolas, at the front of the group jumped across the gap first with his usually enviable elven grace. Next after him was Ariel who closed her eyes as she jumped, I suppose you don't need to look if an elven prince who loves you if going to catch you. Have I mentioned how lucky she is that Legolas is there for her yet? Yes? Oh. Next over the great divide was Boromir with a hobbit in each hand, I must admit I was impressed by his hobbit handling skills, I wonder if he's got kids. Nah… Tolkien would have said, wouldn't he? Sam jumped after that and then Gimli and actually, contrary to the films, he did make the jump all on his own and his beard remains untouched by elven hands.

Next, it was my turn. "Icantdothisicantdothisicantdothis," I mumbled pathetically.

"This is no time for arguments," said Aragorn pushing me forward a little.

"Yes and this is no time for pushing me off the edge of a cliff Mr KTB!" I snapped back for before turning my attention back to the gap. Suddenly, out of nowhere a rock came a smashed the ledge I was standing on. I screamed as the stone beneath me gave way and crumbled down into the long drop. I tried to find something to hold on to, anything. I could hear Ariel screaming in the background. Then the KTB grabbed my hand, just as I was about to fall and he managed to drag me back. Aragorn, Frodo and I all moved back up the staircase a little way. Then another rock crashed behind us. The staircase wobbled dangerously.

I realised that it was all to possible that I could just slip and die. As easy as that, slip and die.

"Lean forward," said the KTB. We did and the stairs slowly began to move in the right direction. Eventually they hit with large jerk and I was thrown into Legolas's arms.

"Legolas, I have to have a talk to you sometime about your relationship to Caeli," said Ariel, looking at us in mock disapproval.

"Aww, are you worried I'd take your elven princeling?" I joked.

"Ariel," said Legolas as he stood me up on the stairs "as much as," we resumed running for our lives down the stairs "I would love to explain to you that my love for Caeli is purely as a friend, we have no time, so please trust me?" he asked as we got to the bottom of the stairs.

As soon as I got off the stairs, the heat was unbearable I turned towards the source of the heat and saw what a first seemed to be a huge bonfire.

"The Balrog!" I said, nudging Ariel.

"Does it have wings?" asked Ariel, looking at it in awe.

"I dunno," I answered and tried to run a bit closer to see but Gandalf grabbed me.

"What are you doing? You must cross the bridge of Khazad-dum!" he said in a deep threatening voice. Didn't scare me though.

"I need to see if it has wings!" I replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's like a really big thing in our world!" said Ariel.

"Ask, Glorfindel when you next see him, now cross the bridge!" he said shoving me in the direction of the bridge. Legolas took Ariel and basically lifted her off her feet and took her away, kicking and screaming.

"But Glorfindel won't tell me!" I said, trying to go and have a better look at the Balrog again.

"I promise that I will make sure he informs you," said Aragorn, joining the effort to get me to cross the bridge.

"But… but… it's a genuine fiery chicken!" I protested. Then, the said fiery chicken started to move closer, quickly. "Ok, second thoughts, I will ask Glorfindel," I said and followed the others over the bridge.

_That's is if I ever see Glorfindel again _I thought miserably. Looking at the Balrog now I had a whole new respect for what Glorfindel had done to actually kill one. Amazing actually, the Balrog was giant and although elves are tall, they're not _that_ tall. I sure missed that elf.

_I was trained by a guy like him and I'm still pathetic with a sword, Eru help me. Then again, maybe I didn't do too badly back there… Ok concentrate on getting over this bridge alive!_

Hi people! Long time no chapter huh? Well, we have this whole list of excuses…ummm… well we did work experience for a while and umm… we're really sorry and we still love you all!

Anyway, we have decided to create website where we post all our lasted comings and goings story wize, so you know were we're at. However, I do believe we are not allowed to put links in chapters so we'll put a link on our profile page as we are good, law abiding members of this rule-crazy site. Please comment on our site (its like a blog layout) and you'll make us feel very loved!

In other news, Lady Ala is going away on holiday soon so you may not get an update for a few… weeks… sorrysorrysorry! If I (Ala) can find a computer anywhere where I'm going I'll see if I can do some writing, but no promises. And computer or no computer, I'll be using my phone (GPRS) to check you're all reviewing so fear the wrath of Ala if you don't (Tin probably won't be pleased either). (And Tin has no idea what GPRS is and will leave the technological 4-letter words to Ala :P)


	25. Chapter 25

Caeli: whines Arieeellllllllll?

Ariel: mimics Caaeeeelllliiiiiii?

Caeli: I'm booooooored.

Ariel: Me toooooooooo. We haven't starred in a chapter for weeks!

Tin: gulp

Ala: whaps Tin What did you do to the poor chapter? You said you'd finished it!

Tin: I did! Then my computer deleted it!

Ala: grabs pitchfork and storms computer

Tin's computer: gulp

Tin: Don't kill it! I can't redo the chapter if you kill my computer!

Ala: sulks no fair. Anyway, I'll get the disclaimer over with so Tin can rewrite the chapter. Tolkien owns it all except the bits that he doesn't want, namely Ariel, Caeli, and Tin's computer. I wouldn't want it either…

**Ariel POV**

_I can't let Gandalf die! If I know that he'll die and I don't stop it, doesn't that make me an accomplice to murder. Ariel, the Balrog's accomplice? Nah…_

"GANDALF!" I screamed, and tried to run forwards to pull the wizard across the bridge.

"What are you doing? He has to save the world," Caeli hissed and grabbed my arm. I twisted away from her and ended up caught by Legolas.

"Go back to the shadow!" Gandalf yelled at the Balrog. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" The bridge didn't break until the Balrog started to advance menacingly. Then it crumbled and the monster fell. Gandalf leant on his staff and watched it fall. Then just like in the film, the Balrog's whip dragged him over the edge.

I screamed. I don't think I've ever screamed louder in my life. I couldn't get my head around the fact that Gandalf was coming back. Sure, I knew it would happen, but there's nothing like watching someone die to convince you that they're not coming back. Aragorn grabbed Caeli and half carried, half dragged her out of Moria as Legolas did the same with me.

When we got out, I squeezed my eyes shut. The weather wasn't allowed to be so bright when Gandalf was dead! It was like wearing fluorescent pink to a funeral, it was wrong. It was supposed to be raining with thunder crashing overhead and us all looking like drowned rats, not bright and sunny with the only noise being the chirp of birds.

"I tried to warn him!" Caeli said suddenly and sat down on a rock. "I tried to warn him and he already knew! Why didn't he listen to me?"

I_ can't deal with this. Why did I ever come on this quest? What was the point? I can't cope with all the death and there's no way I'm going to survive another battle. Not if I can't kill an orc without going into shock. But I can't just stop in Lothlorien. I said I'd do this and I have to. I can't drop out but I don't think I can go on either!_

"Yes you can," Legolas said firmly. I stared at him in confusion.

"I have to stop thinking out loud," I muttered.

"You can go on," he repeated. "You came on this quest because you wanted to help get rid of the Ring. You can and will survive if we end up in another battle. You aren't the first person to freeze the first time they kill." I sighed.

"But… I don't want to kill," I said. "I know it's necessary to kill orcs but I still think murder is wrong. And I'll have to kill again before the end of this quest." Legolas hugged me.

"You aren't a fighter and I realise that you hate killing. But an orc will not leave you alone because you do not wish to kill it. Murder is wrong, but killing in self defence is not," he told me. I shrugged and nodded. I knew it but didn't feel it.

We trudged to Lothlorien. Well, when I say we trudged, we actually ran. But we'd run so much that I was beginning to forget the words to describe other types of movement. As usual, Legolas, Aragorn and Boromir were at the front of the group. Me and the hobbits came next, our stomachs rumbling, while Caeli and Gimli grumbled along at the back of the group.

When we got into the forest, the hobbits stuck close to Aragorn. Gimli walked next to Legolas in order to gloat about his superior senses. Me and Caeli watched them from behind. Frodo suddenly froze and stared around and I gulped. Suddenly it didn't seem quite so fun to be anywhere near a powerful elf lady who could speak into my mind. Especially as that sort of power freaked me out. Gimli started telling the hobbits about the evilness of Galadriel. I looked at Caeli, who evidently was a bit freaked out by the fact that maybe her mind was being read, right that moment.

"May the force be with you," I muttered to her. Then we both started laughing as the elves dropped out of the trees right on cue. The aforementioned elves stared at us.

_They probably feel insulted that we don't look terrified. I doubt that anyone else has ever laughed at having an arrow in their face. Oh well. Nothing like annoying an immortal being who has a pointy weapon aimed at you_.

"Um, aaaaaaah?" I asked.

I hadn't realised how long we'd been walking through the forest until I noticed that I couldn't see very clearly. For a moment I thought I was going blind until I looked upwards and saw that it was getting dark.

"Exactly how well can Elves see in the dark?" I asked Legolas. "Because it doesn't seem to make any difference to you whatsoever." He turned to me looking a bit surprised.

"Well enough to not notice the darkness if my mind is on other things," he replied. I blinked then realised he meant Gandalf. I bit my lip, feeling guilty for not telling Legolas that Gandalf would be back.

After that, Haldir led us all us to a glorified treehouse and started to argue with Aragorn. I looked at Caeli and rolled my eyes.

_I guess even elf males suffer from way too much testosterone. And those two are giving me a migraine_.

"Speak words all of us can understand!" Gimli snapped at Haldir. Haldir looked down his nose at Gimli.

"We have not had dealings with the dwarves since the dark days," Haldir said. I raised my eyebrows. That elf really needed to take his bow out of his butt. I'd known Gimli longer than Haldir had and I sure didn't have a problem with the dwarf.

"Wouldn't you just love to see Haldir dancing around Lothlorien singing I'm a little teapot?" I said to Caeli. Then got a mental image of Haldir actually doing that. Then cracked up laughing. And got confused looks from everyone except Caeli who evidently had the same mental image.

In the end, Haldir led us all to another treehouse where we could sleep. Actually, he led us all to a treehouse for the guys to sleep. Then proceeded to look shocked when me and Caeli plonked ourselves down there too, and his eyes nearly bugged out when he realised that I was planning on using Legolas as my pillow.

_Oh… I always seem to forget that Legolas is a prince, because he isn't snooty and he loves me… which is presumably a bit of a shock to Mister Marchwarden._

The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Haldir opening his mouth to say something to me.

No wonder I had nightmares.

---------

I was woken up a few hours later by someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and glared at Caeli.

"It's time to get up," she said cheerfully. Well, ok, she wasn't cheerful, but she wasn't miserable and grumpy either, which is what everyone should be in the mornings.

I dragged myself to my feet and stumbled over to the door.

"Stupid, miserable, godforsaken damn trees," I muttered.

"Pardon?" Haldir asked, looking highly offended. I spun around and glared at him.

"I said, stupid, miserable, godforsaken damn trees," I told him crossly. "If you're such a wonderful elf and all that, why couldn't you hear?" Aragorn sighed and pulled me away from the group.

"I know you hate mornings, Ariel, but could you please not be so rude?" he asked. Still tired, I used a couple of choice words to describe him that could only be described as rude.

We trudged. And we walked. And I did contemplate asking for a piggy back, but didn't really feel like it.

It was dark again by the time we reached Caras Galadhon.

"Wow, it's beautiful," I said quietly, staring upwards. Then I shivered.

"Are you cold?" Legolas asked me. I shook my head and edged closer to him.

"No, it's just… this place is… I don't know. I was going to say it's more elven than Rivendell, but it's not really. I think it's just easier to feel the power here than there," I said, making no sense at all.

"That made no sense at all," Caeli said unhelpfully. I ignored her.

"I mean, sometimes I forget that you elves are all powerful and that you can't exactly do magic but it's kind of like some sort of magic that you have," I tried to clarify what I was saying. "It's a little spooky."

"I think it's cool," Caeli said cheerfully. "It's beautiful here, and the elves can talk to the trees. Why is that so spooky?"

"It's just – oh, forget it," I said and stalked off.

I'm in a different world with magical, immortal beings and just saw a real, live wizard die. Make that ex-live wizard. You have to admit this isn't exactly normal!

When we got to the top of the stairs, Galadriel and Celeborn came down their steps and greeted the Fellowship. I was still referring to it as the Fellowship plus me and Caeli. It was too strange to accept that we were actually in it.

_Whoa, she really needs to turn the power down on her glowiness,_ I thought when Galadriel turned to look at me, then I jumped backwards when I heard her reply in my head. Only Legolas' quick reflexes saved me from falling to a painful death three miles down the tree. Well. Only Legolas' quick reflexes saved me from an embarrassing roll down the stairs to the platform below, where I would have no doubt landed with my butt in the air.

"Um, could you repeat that?" I asked Galadriel once I'd made sure I wasn't anywhere near a platform edge.

**_Vedui' vende o England_** she replied. I recognised the first and last word.

_Um, vedui',_ I thought back. _What does vende o mean_?

**_Girl from_** she told me. I nodded then tried to concentrate on meditating so she couldn't read my mind. It was a little freaky knowing that someone could tell what I was thinking. I could see a hint of a smirk on Galadriel's face.

_That didn't work, did it_, I thought resignedly.

**_No, it did not_**, she informed me.

She turned to stare at Caeli and while that was going on, I looked around, my eyes landing on Haldir. Whose eyes had landed on (probably a long time ago) about a foot below Galadriel's eye level. I repressed a snicker.

_If he wasn't so up himself, and she wasn't married, they'd be a very cute couple_, I mused to myself, contemplating the idea.

**_I'm afraid he is not really 'my type'_** Galadriel thought to me. I stared at her and started laughing. It was nice to know that the powerful ring-bearing elf lady had a sense of humour, so she didn't start blasting me off trees or anything. Everyone started staring at me, wondering why I was laughing at the Lady of Light. Then I remembered that she might find the sarcasm with which I said that vaguely insulting, although it wasn't meant to be.

_Don't blast me!_ I thought, panicking. _I'm too young to die! I swear to the purple monkey-flavoured broccoli soup that I won't ever think about kicking Haldir's butt while wearing stilettos again, if you don't use some weird Star Wars power to shove me off that platform!_

Galadriel stared at me for a moment, then shook her head in what was presumably amusement.

"You all need rest," Celeborn said, breaking the silence. We all headed back down the stairs, listening to the elves singing.

It was funny how elven music could change my mood so quickly. I'd managed to forget that Gandalf was dead while I was talking – well, thinking – to Galadriel, but as soon as the elves started singing their lament I was sad again.

"I feel as if I've fallen into a sad story," I said quietly to Caeli. "It's too weird here, it's like being in a book." Caeli nodded, then her eyes widened.

"Ariel – we are in a book," she said. I stared at her, suddenly remembering that I didn't belong in Middle-earth.

"I forgot," I said miserably, lying down next to Legolas and turning onto my stomach so no one could see me crying.

I hate being here, I hate being part of something that shouldn't exist, I hate having seen Gandalf die, I wish – no. I don't wish I was back in England. Home isn't there any more. I'm too connected to this world and these people now.

I rolled over and buried my face in Legolas' shoulder. His nice elven shirt was soaked through by the time I fell asleep, but he never said anything about it. But then I'd definitely felt a few tears land on my head. We were all grieving for Gandalf, but at least we were all together.

**Caeli's POV**

I felt I was floating… somewhere up high. I felt the sun playing on my face and a bird flew by my head. I looked up, everything seemed white, and then I rose higher until there was so much light I was squinting. Then I hit a big white fluffy cloud… and was soaked through.

I blinked to get the water out of my eyes and then realised I wasn't actually wet, I was completely dry and there were leaves above me instead of endless blue sky. The sunlight peaked through the leaves, twinkling little rays here and there like morning stars. I threw off the thin blanket that had been hugging my body and rolled onto my side in order to get up, and then I realised the flet didn't carry on forever.

In one of those odd slow motion moments that happen when you think you just might die, I rolled over the edge of the wooden platform. Luckily on my way down I just managed to grab the edge of the wooden board with my arm.

"Oh… shit…" I muttered, trying desperately not to think about exactly how high up I was. I tried to used my arms to push myself back up onto the platform but after a minute of kicking my legs to try and get myself up (well it works in water) and calling on all the strength in my arms I realised why I had never bothered to go to a gym. I could see Ariel opposite me still sleeping.

"Ariel!" I called. Ariel remained motionless apart from gentle breathing, however luckily for me, her pillow did hear me and quickly came to my aid. I raised a hand up, intending the pillow to take it a drag me up with sheer pillow-power but, rather unhelpfully the pillow just said:

"Let go," said the pillow. I looked up at the elven prince-pillow with a mixture of shock and indignation. I could hardly believe it, he was letting me fall however many thousands, perhaps even millions of feet, no, meters (perhaps even yards!) down to the forest floor.

"Legolas, I am serious, I gonna fall in a minute and I _will_ haunt you forever, you have my word!" I shouted back at him.

"That's very nice Caeli, but really its not that far down…" he replied.

"Well mister I can climb a Mallorn in under three seconds-" I would have continued but then I felt a tug on my legs. "HEEELP!" I screamed as I was dragged of the ledge where I had been hanging by what seemed to be freakily powerful gravity of the elven type.

For about a millisecond I fell through the air and I had settled down comfortable with imaginary popcorn to watch the sure-to-be fascinating show of watching my life flash before my eyes when my back hit a wooden plank. I slowly opened my eyes and then realised that I was lying on a ledge about two meters below the one I was on. I could see two elves looking down on me, on the ledge above me was the pillow and on my ledge was Haldir.

"Morning!" I said sheepishly as I got up and rubbed my back.

"I trust you slept well," asked Haldir politely, doing a bad job of concealing how amused he was.

"Like you've never rolled off a platform before," I scoffed. The blank expression I got back was all I needed as an answer "Oh," I said, "Well, I like being the first to do things," I said smiling happily. Haldir smiled uncertainly back at me.

"Well," I said rubbing my hands "any chance of breakfast?"

"Breakfast commences after the morning duel," Haldir informed me. I gave him the HUH? expression.

"Every morning there's a duel in the clearing, I believe today Feloff and Glorfindel are competing."

"Feloff and who?" I said immediately.

"Glorfindel of Gondolin, he just visiting form-"

"But that…" I opened my mouth and then closed it a again like a fish "But why, actually never mind, where's the clearing?" I said quickly whilst thinking to fast for my own good. Glorfindel? Here? Something was inside me was grinning like a Cheshire cat but I was confused to my core.

"Go down to the base of this tree and follow the stones," said Haldir. I ran up to him and hugged him.

"I just want you to know you're one of my favourite Lorien elves and I don't believe a word of the you/Galadriel thing!" I said before half climbing half falling down the ladder.

"What thing?" Haldir called down to me.

"Forget it!" I called back, running along the path marked by the rocks. I only took me about three minutes to get the crowd in the clearing. I pushed my way to the front just in time to see Glorfindel of Gondolin disarm his opponent, a tall dark-haired elf. I immediately went into hyper mode and shouted and jumped and clapped like everyone else. Some elves pushed past me to talk to the two in the centre and I ran forward and overtook them.

A moment later I had crashed into Glorfindel and was enveloping him in a bear hug.

"Caeli?" he exclaimed sounding utterly shocked. Someone behind me began talking to Glorfindel in elvish and then started to drag me away but Glorfindel replied and pulled me back again and out of the crowd, apologising to people as he went. As soon as we were out of the ground he gave me such a tight hug that my feet were lifted of the ground.

"What the hell are you doing here you silly elf?" I said grinning broadly and kissing him.

"Never mind that, how long have you been here, why wasn't I told?" he asked.

"We've only been here a day or-"

"Are you hurt?" Glorfindel cut in. "I was so worried about you," he said hugging me again.

"Will you quit worrying about me for just one second?" I asked bursting into happy laughter.

"No," he said laughing as well "I don't seem to have anything better to do," he said, brushing a hand through my hair. "I'm so relieved you're ok… well," he said and then held me at arm's length and looked me up and down "alive at least."

"Definitely!" I said "Bruised and battered and starving, but alive,"

"As normal then," he said affectionately.

"Indeed, now shall we go and find food? And you can tell my why you're here along the way." I said and started to walk in the same direction as the other elves.

"I hate explaining things," said Glorfindel, sighing.

"Tough," I said.

"I knew you would say that,"

"I don't like to disappoint!" I answered. "Now, tell me!"

"Well, it was Elrond's idea,"

"You shouldn't let him boss you around he's-"

"Younger than me, I know I know, but it was a fairly good idea. Basically after you disappeared into the night," he grinned at me "Elrond began to worry that you had done something foolish,"

"It's so sad, he totally doesn't know me,"

"Anyway, I told him that you probably had but you were probably alright but maybe I should catch up with you to check and then return but then it turned out that Elrond was sending a messenger to Lorien anyway, so I might as well carry the message and come here myself, so, here I am. Happy."

"Almost," I said, still smiling.

"Oh dear,"

"If you got my letter how did you not know that I had gone with the fellowship, and anyway, you knew you sent me that letter and the sword! I couldn't have done without either of them you know," I said wrapping my arm round him.

"Well I guess that its was what you might do, but I wasn't certain, and as for you letter, I got it but I could read a word of it apart from my name on the front, I have it with me, you'll have to tell me what it says." said Glorfindel.

"Of course!" I said, as the light dawned. "The letter didn't say much… don't worry about it,"

"I want to know!" protested Glorfindel.

"No!" I said sternly.

"Please?"

"NO!" I insisted.

"I'll tell everyone where you slept on Ariel's birthday," he warned.

"Where did I…. oh!" I said as memories of the top bookshelf came back to me "don't you dare!"

"Oh I would," he said grinning mischievously.

"I'll tell them about that time your knife missed the target by about a hundred miles!" Then I suddenly noticed that I had arrived at the breakfast tables, and everyone was looking at me. "Sorry," I whispered to Glorfindel.

"Have a nice breakfast, you won't live long after it," he whispered back in a dangerous tone. I gulped and took a seat on the end of the table, Glorfindel sat opposite me.

On the wooden table there was bread, hot soups, eggs and steaming vegetables. Forgetting my impending doom I quickly helped myself to two eggs and a plate of veg.

"Can you pass the bread?" I asked Glorfindel, finding that my arm was too short to easily reach it.

"It's exactly as far away from me as it is from you," was the only answer I got. It looked like I wasn't in Glorfindel's good books.

"Fine," I muttered under my breath. I stood up and reached for the bread plate and pulled it closer to me, while I was at it I also moved all the plates near Glorfindel, next to me. That'll teach him to talk to a lady a like that!

"Caeli, I can't reach anything," Glorfindel stated.

"But sweetie, your arm's longer than mine!" I exclaimed with an innocent smile on my face. He glared at me. Pleased with the effect, I continued. "Unless of course a plate is too heavy for the great Glorfindel ala Gondolin." I said in my most sugary sweet voice. "In which case I think you should consider labelling your own dishes so that no one can take them away from you and they can be your to keep and cherish for ever and-"

"OK!" he said crossly, getting up to reach for the eggs himself. I mimed a round of applause. Revenge is sweet.

When he had finished, Glorfindel got and left with so much as making eye contact with me. _Oh dear… looks like I'm going to have use the word 'sorry' a few times…_

I ran off after him.

"Hey Glorfindel," I said to his back when I was few meters away. He didn't say anything. I stopped to watch for a while. Was he really cross? I only meant to tease him.

Then, as I watched him, he suddenly disappeared. I gaped. This sure was a new trick, Tolkien never said anything about this. I ran to where he had disappeared, on the way I slipped on a rock and I skidded along the grass that was still wet with dew and then I felt myself falling down and within a second I had hit water. I closed my eyes and kicked my way up to see Glorfindel grinning in front of me.

"That was EVIL!" I shouted, splashing him.

"You weren't exactly nice at breakfast," he retorted.

"I thought elves were supposed to be above revenge!" I said whilst treading water. "Where is this anyway?" I looked up. I had fallen from a small cliff about two or three meters up. I was now in some kind of river about five meters across. I swam over to the side to get a closer look at the rock but Glorfindel wound an arm round my waist.

"You don't want to be caught up in the strong currents," he warned.

"Oh, so now you care whether I live or die?" I asked swivelling round in his arms to face.

"Not really, but I rather like Lorien, and I think I'd be banished if I let you die,"

"Tragic"

"Completely," he agreed. I looked down at the clear but bottomless river below us.

"What was that?" I asked folding Glorfindel's arms tighter around me for protection. He just laughed.

"It's fish! Are there no fish in your rivers?" he joked.

"Of course there, I've just never been swimming with them, its scary you know!" I argued.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from any fish as long as a hand span, any longer that and you're on your own."

"Thanks,"

"Where do you swim anyway if not in rivers,"

"Swimming pools, we dig holes in the ground and then fill them with water and then go swim," I explained.

"Don't you have rivers?" he asked.

"Yeah but… long story, forget it," I said and gave him a kiss.

"Whatever makes you happy," he said. At that moment I heard Ariel's voice from up above on the bank.

"Caeli? Caaaaeliiiiii!" she called her voice sounding closer and closer. I was just about to call back to her when I had an idea. I put a finger to my lips to signal Glorfindel to be quiet but he just frowned.

"It means be quiet," I whispered.

"Why… oh who's evil now?" he replied when he guessed what was happening.

"Girls tricking girls isn't evil, you on the other hand should have more respect for ladies!" I whispered. Glorfindel was just opening his mouth to protest when signalled him to be quiet and he thought better of it.

"Caeli, where the hell are you, you know I _will _kill you if you're hiding – this is a morning," she said. Glorfindel and I exchanged slightly anxious looks. "And if you even think of- "and then she slipped just as I had and screamed as she fell into the water. "HELP!" she screamed. I burst out laughing, I just couldn't help myself. Hearing me, she spun round.

"Eeep!" I said in a small voice and swam round behind Glorfindel intending to use him as a shield against the Queen of Darkness that was Ariel in the morning. Ariel saw Glorfindel and her glare suddenly disappeared.

"GLORFINDEL!" she shrieked swimming up to give him a hug.

"Hello Ariel, not too bruised and battered I hope?"

"Not bad really considering I've been to hell and back, you?" she asked. As they talked I quietly made my way behind Ariel where she couldn't see me.

"Oh I'm fine," said Glorfindel, glancing at me in puzzlement. I began vigorously shaking my head and waving my hands in the way you do when you want someone who's picked up the phone to tell the person on the line that you're not at home. Ariel noticed Glorfindel looking behind her and turned to see what it was and I quickly ducked under the water.

I heard muffled voices from above the water and tried to stay as still a possible, Ariel was going to KILL ME… oh my god, I was dead. However after about a minute I had to come back up for air.

As soon as my head broke the surface of the water Ariel screamed so loud that I screamed in shock and she screamed again and then I screamed again cause this screaming party was fun. Ariel then opened her mouth to scream again but Glorfindel beat her to it.

"ENOUGH! Calm down!" he said with his hands protecting his delicate elven ears. "Ariel it's just Caeli, there's no Lorien-water-monster, sorry," Ariel stared at me as she was recognising me for the first time. Then it clicked why.

"You thought I was a… that's just too funny!" I said giggling till my stomach hurt. "You told her I was a…. oh my God…. and you fell for it!" said choked out between giggling fits.

"Enjoy your last few moments of life Caeli," she said dangerously before launching a full-scale water attack on me, I'm telling you, that girl knows how to chuck water. I suddenly found myself unable to see or breathe… well I could breathe a little.

"Okokok! I'm sorry!" I coughed.

"How could you! You tricked me you're EVIL!" she screamed. I heard a little chuckle from Glorfindel.

"SHUT UP!" we both yelled at him at the same time.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"And how could you tell me there's a water monster?" Ariel yelled, turning on Glorfindel. I smirked at him "You know I don't come from here! Of course I'm going to believe you! But, but you know what?" she continued to yell, Glorfindel was looking like he wished the ground would open up and swallow him "You know something? I'm never going to trust you ever again!" I was trying to stop laughing but it was hard "Or you Caeli!" she shouted, turning back to me. I stopped laughing. "You've completely LOST MY TRUST! Both of you!" she yelled.

She then proceeded to swim away angrily (swimming angrily is a difficult thing to do, she managed it incredibly well). When she was a minute or two away from us she suddenly stopped and looked up at the cliff walls and shouted to no one in particular.

"HOW THE FUCK DO I GET OUT OF THIS PLACE?!"

--------------

Ala and Tin both look sheepishly at the disapproving looks of their readers. We're sorry, in fact, we're very sorry, very. All sorts of things have sadly got in the way: holidays, birthdays, GCSE results, starting college, doing essays, computers breaking down and to be honest our characters can just be temperamental. You know, sometimes you just want to sit down and have a chat with them about a new direction you want to take the story in and then you find they've hung rude signs on the door saying "Author free zone" and "Writers will be made into kebabs" and "No admittance till the fifth age". …Well Elrond's just said "No admittance… ever, ever again"… but I diverge.

The fact is, it shouldn't happen again and now we are properly back into Middle-earth zone and we have had a word with all our characters concerning the offensive door signs, we'll update you on the situation soon.

So until we next meet, don't forget we love very much, you make us happy ('tis true, sometimes Ala is randomly walking along in the street and she smiles because she has thought of you). So review, welcome us back or complain at length about our absence :( please don't be too horrible!


	26. Chapter 26

Glorfindel: We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz!

Tin: Erm…. Nice pink dress Glorfy…. Hey, isn't that Ariel's?

Legolas: Postman Pat, Postman Pat, Postman Pat and his black and white cat!

Ala: Oh god… ARIEL! CAELI! STOP LENDING THE ELVES YOUR RED LIPSTICKS!

Ariel: Hey, he did ask very nicely //winks//

Caeli: And frankly, it's not our fault that Tinuviel has a warped mind and too much spare time!

Ariel: And frankly, we don't care about what you authoresses want the elves to look like!

Caeli: And frankly, you can't control us anyway!

Tin: And frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn!

Ala: ….

Elrond//pitying look// Poor dear, she's finally cracked.

Tin: I AM NOT INSANE! I HAVE LOVABLE PERSONALITY QUIRKS!

Elrond: Yes deary, whatever you say… anyway, before the little men in their white jackets come and take Tin away –

Tin: WHITE JACKETS ROCK!

Elrond: ANYWAY, Tolkien owns it apart from Ariel and Caeli!

**Chapter 26**

**Ariel's POV**

Once Glorfindel showed me the way out, I stomped away, dripping water and a few bits of slimy grassy stuff that one always gets covered in when one is tricked into falling into a pond.

Stupid Caeli, stupid Glorfindel, stupid goddamn Middle-earth and all its stupid goddamn problems

I stalked back to where we were all camping out under a big tree and then remembered that as this wasn't Rivendell, no one had anything to do and so everyone was sitting under the big tree.

_Jeez, can't a girl get some privacy to fume in peace?_

I turned around and stalked off after glaring at each member of the Fellowship. A moment later, Legolas put his hand on my arm.

"What's the matter, Ariel?" he asked. I opened my mouth to lose my temper and then closed it again, remembering that it wasn't his fault that life sucked, and in fact he was one of the few things in it that didn't suck.

"Nothing… everything… me," I said, not sure what I was talking about but storing it away for future analysis. Generally, when I said things without understanding them they actually made sense – well, one eyed one toed rhinoceroses with orange sparkly stripes omitted. "I just want to be on my own for a while so I can think." Legolas nodded and I smiled at him before walking away.

After walking for a few minutes, I realised I'd forgotten why I was angry in the first place, then that made me remember and be angry all over again. So I restarted being the stomping grumpy thing that dripped bits of pond slime. Well, I'd been dripping pond slime and been grumpy before I remembered, but I hadn't been stomping, just dawdling along lost in thought.

Haldir jumped out from a tree and glared down at me.

"You should not be here, this area is not public," he told me. I glared at him.

"I can't see anyone there and I'm not planning on setting it on fire, so bugger off and annoy someone else," I snapped at him. Yeah, I knew it wasn't the best idea to annoy an immortal being who happened to own several pointy things and also happened to be the Marchwarden, but all I wanted to do was sit down on the steps instead of on the grass.

"You should not be so rude to your betters," he told me. I subjected him to my Death Glare of Doom.

"Well, according to all your elven stories about Eru, he loves the Secondborn just as much as the Firstborn, so how is it that you're my better?" I asked angrily.

_Shit… I'm not from this world, I don't count as one of Eru's secondborn, so I'm just an unimportant teenager pissing around getting in the way…_

My eyes widened as I realised that.

_Now I can really see why all those Mary-Sues get turned into elves, life would be so much easier if I belonged here, although I've never been too in love with being clichéd_

"Fine, whatever, you're better than me, now please just leave me alone and go complain to Lady Galadriel about how I should be chucked out of Lothlorien immediately," I muttered and sat down on the steps.

"Do you really think anyone would let you go when there are orcs nearby?" Haldir asked me.

"I'm not a kid, you can't 'allow' me to do things like that. It's not in your job description to try and control stray females who aren't scared of your pointy arrows," I told him.

"If you are not a child, why do you act like one?" he asked in that snooty voice that really annoyed me.

"Because people laugh and making people laugh is about the only thing I'm good at, ok? Now you can go and gloat," I told him and leant my head down on my knees.

"So you pretend to behave one way just to make people laugh at you? Humans do come up with the most ridiculous ideas," Haldir said pompously. I looked up at him.

"Ok, Mr Marchwarden Haldir," I said, not knowing what his title was but figuring he wouldn't appreciate just being called Haldir, "You try being a normal teenager, getting struck by lightening and ending up in your favourite book where people's moral values are completely different to yours and 'people' consist of immortal beings that happen to be a completely different intelligent species. Add on falling in love with a fictional character and deciding to follow him on a dangerous trip to save the world where you will probably be killed within six months by means of being impaled on some stinky thing's sword. You try coming up with a better coping mechanism."

Haldir, being a dignified elf, just raised his eyebrows while processing this.

"Oh yeah, did I forget to mention the whole 'I know the future of this world better than the resident telepathic, future-seeing beautiful elf queen' part? Because knowing exactly what will happen, from what people will say at a particular moment to knowing that I had to let someone die because otherwise the world would be doomed, isn't quite my idea of a great time," I informed him. Haldir raised his eyebrows.

_Say something, damn you! Don't just raise your perfectly plucked eyebrows at me!_

"Why are you telling me this?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I was hoping for some advice. As you're the Marchwarden you're presumably fairly intelligent," I informed him. Haldir nodded.

_Don't you dare say something arrogant!!!_

"Stop acting like a child," he told me, and left. I sat there with my mouth hanging open for a moment.

_Did he just give me five-word advice and walk off? Rude!_

After a minute I removed my jaw from the mud and walked back to the others.

"Ariel! Where did you go? I asked Haldir but he wouldn't tell me!" Caeli said, running up to me. I glared at her, then forcibly relaxed.

_New, sane Ariel does NOT commit murder._

"I needed some private time," I said. Everyone gave me very weird looks. "Stop looking at me like that, I know I'm covered in mud!"

_STOP STARING AT ME!_

_Oops, didn't mean to say - yell - that out loud. Operation Sane Ariel isn't going so well!_

"I'm trying this new thing where I'm sane," I informed them. Gimli raised his eyebrows. "Scratch that, I'm trying this new thing where I'm saner than normal."

"Sane? You're not sane!" Caeli said incredulously.

"Funnily enough, I noticed! It was just, I had a conversation with Haldir and something he said made me feel like being a little bit sane for a while," I said. "Well, it wasn't really a conversation, he annoyed me, I yelled at him, he annoyed me some more, I yelled at him, he told me to stop acting dumb and walked off."

"Since when have you listened to authority?" Aragorn asked. I shrugged.

"Erm… Haldir's an authority figure to me? That's the first I've heard of it!" I said cheerfully. "And I'm going to go have a bath because I look like Muddy the Mud Monster!"

"You are Muddy the Mud Monster," Caeli was obliged to point out.

"Yes indeedy, Monstrous Mud Muddy am I!" I announced with a curtsy and fell over. "Ouch."

"What happened to being sane?" Caeli asked, her eyebrows raised in a perfect parallelogram.

_Shut up stupid brain!_

"Sanity and elegance and poise and – " I struck a pose "And all that jazz!"" – in tune to Chicago – "are totally different things!"

"I rest my case," Caeli muttered.

**Caeli's POV**

After the conclusion of Ariel's sane period I turned to give her that "private time" she said she needed. I wandered here and there in various directions until I saw Haldir's back disappearing behind a Mallorn tree. _I think it's high time we made friends Mr authority figure!_

"Heya Haldir!" I called cheerfully. He stopped and turned round.

"Hello Caeli," he said politely in return.

"So…. Where are you off to?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"The Training grounds." He answered serenely.

"Who's beating up who this time?"

"I don't believe there are any planned fights happening at the moment,"

"Ooo so you're practising yourself…." I waited for him to elaborate but continued when he didn't "so… who are you going to practise with?"

"Perhaps Legolas or Glorfindel, they are good companions of mine but they rarely visit,"

"Any friend of Glorfindel is a friend of mine!" I said smiling

"Likewise," he said, but didn't seem to mean it. We arrived at the training grounds which were now full of elves with all manner of dangerous weapons. Glorfindel was duelling with an elf I hadn't met yet but when he saw us approach he stopped and came to meet us, sheathing his sword.

"Caeli," he said with a smile and kissed my hand like some medieval knight.

"Haldir," he greeted the elf to my left in the traditional elvish way – hand on heart and a little bow. It occurred to me that maybe it would be a good idea to try that myself one day 'heya!' didn't seem to work on middle-earth as well as it did on earth. Glorfindel's eyes flashed back to my expectant face and smiled and came to give me a hug. I tightened my arms round his waist.

"I've missed Caeli hugs!" he said, releasing me and planting and kissing my head. I just smiled stupidly; everything was good when he was around. Suddenly Haldir began to talk quickly to Glorfindel in elvish gesturing to me every now and again. As they talked Haldir's expression changed from surprise to bewilderment, back to surprise and then happiness. Eventually they turned back to me.

"Sorry about that Caeli, I just needed to clear a few things up with Glorfindel… perhaps you would like to have a duel? I'd like to get to know you better." He said smiling all the time. _Wow, what did Glorfindel just threaten you with? _I flicked my eyes over to Glorfindel who just gave me his 'wasn't me' look.

"Umm, no, thanks but no, I'm no match for you really," I said honestly.

"How modest!" He said, smiling approvingly at Glorfindel "But I insist," he said and offered me a sword. I didn't take it.

"Believe me Haldir, the day I can actually use one of those things, there'll be no modesty,"

"I can't believe one who has trained with Glorfindel has no talents," he said, practically forcing the sword into my hand. I gave Glorfindel a 'help!' look but he just told me to 'have fun'. I glared at him and seriously considered removing one of his arms with my sword but quickly decided against it, not because it would have been an unjust punishment, in fact would have been exceedingly just and would have probably fallen under the category of 'the merciful deeds of Caeli', but because I knew the day I managed to do that particular elf any harm was the day I gave up chocolate. Wait! There's no chocolate!

So, content with thinking hateful thoughts about the elf I USED to have a soft-spot for, I went to meet my death at the end of Haldir's sword.

It actually started ok, but quickly got a lot worse. I was soon receiving very painful hits left right and centre, bruises from Moria hadn't healed yet and I got an extra bolt of pain whenever I was hit on one of them. Haldir was just about to disarm me completely when I decided to go for an old trick, I looked just behind Haldir's left shoulder said in amazement "It's a skinny dwarf!" as he turned I easily knocked his sword out of his hand. He turned back to me.

"Where?" he asked.

"Nowhere, but I win!" I said, leisurely holding both the swords, well I say leisurely, that's how I was trying to make it look, actually I was in a lot of pain. Haldir looked as if someone has just told him that Santa doesn't exist. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"You tricked me!" he accused.

"You tricked me when you made it look as if you were going for my right when actually you were going for my left," I replied.

"But that's an established technique!" he protested.

"Well, that was just a not-quite-so-in-fact-not-at-all established technique," I said, grinning happily. Glorfindel chucked. "I'm going to talk to YOU about this later!" I said crossly, I still hadn't forgiven him for letting me get involved in this in the first place.

"I seem to have offended every female I've talked to today," he said

"Too right you have!"

"You're over reacting…." He said and reached out to but an arm round me, but I stepped out of his reach.

"I am NOT!" said angrily, I was going to have this talk in private, but if he wanted to have it now, so be it. "You just let me go into this fight, even though you KNEW that-"

"Can I have the sword?" said Haldir's comparatively very small voice. He looked slightly scared. I gave him his sword and turned back to Glorfindel. "Umm," said Haldir, I turned slowly back to him, trying not to shout at him "would you like me to take yours as well?" he asked probably thinking I could argue better without it, wrong!

"No, I'm keeping this one!" I said and aimed it at Glorfindel who actually took a step back.

"Ok…" said Haldir and then walked off, very fast.

"Now," I said to Glorfindel, still aiming the sword at him "Do you really think its funny to put someone who touched a sword for the first time a few months ago in a duel with someone who's been using one for the last million years?!" I asked

"He's not quite a million years old…" said Glorfindel.

"A thousand, whatever, the point is, he didn't know I can't use a sword and therefore he could have hurt me! Didn't that ever cross your oh-so-wise mind?"

"I know Haldir, he wouldn't have hurt a lady,"

"Oh for goodness sake. Its not that I'm a GIRL, sometimes it isn't you know!" I shouted and then added "although to be honest, I have to agree, in this bloody male world, most of the time it is!"

"So now you're blaming us for treating you as lady which is what you are and showing you respect for that?" retorted Glorfindel. At the point, I just couldn't help it, I threw the sword at him. Needless to say he caught easily. Damn it.

I walked off, mostly the only solution in such situations. I strode angrily through the trees and nearly bumped into Legolas, I was about to share (or shout) all my troubles to him when I realized, he was a guy and would never understand and so I walked away. Literally a few steps later I came across Aragorn, presumably on his way to the training grounds.

"Oh my god, why are there guys EVERYWHERE!" I shouted at him. He gave me a puzzled expression but I didn't have the mental composure to say anything so I just shook my head and walked on. As walked I seemed to past more and more male elves until I actually wanted to punch one of them for no other reason than being male.

At last I heard Ariel calling me from somewhere up above me. She was sitting on a flet, leaning against a tree trunk.

"Hiya Caeli!" she called.

"A girl!" I exclaimed, "At last!" I said and climbed the ladder up to her flet.

"Yup, I'm a girl well noticed" she said when I had got up.

"Can I ask you something Ariel?" I said.

"Go ahead,"

"Why are there guys EVERYWHERE?! Just why? Why are there so many? Why are they the only ones doing anything? Why do they seem to cover middle-earth like annoying flies, and most of all WHY ARE THEY SUCH IDIOTS?!" I shouted. Ariel regarded me with calculated calm.

"Did you and Glorfindel fall out?" she asked.

"Yes.." I said. HJHHhhhasdfHow does Ariel seem to know everything sometimes?

"What did he do?" she asked.

"How did you know it was him,"

"Firstly because you're so angry and secondly, if it was you it would have been over and forgiven by now,"

"Who are you today? Galadriel or something?"

"No, I'm just in a state of supreme and all encompassing wisdom," she answered zen-like.

"Whatever," I said and flopped down beside her.

"So, what did he do?"

"Didn't stop Haldir forcing me into some stupid duel,"

"Hmmm," she said but not a lot else. It was surprisingly calming sitting up there in the leaves, a good place to think.

"Oh no, I've just shouted at Aragorn…" I said, suddenly remembering.

"Why'd you do that?"

"Cause he's a guy,"

"Ah, yes… a common occurrence around here…"

"Maybe I should apolo-"

"Yup," she said,

"Ok," I said and got up to do just that.

"But he's in the training ground with Glorfindel,"

"Good, you can apologise to both of them,"

"I see the insane Ariel has returned, I am NOT apologising to Glorfindel for shouting at him when I meant it and still mean it!"

"Suit yourself, you know what you're missing!"

"What?"

"Glorfindel duh! I happen to know he's a perfectly reasonable elf who would never mean any harm to you."

I was silent for a while and then realised she was right.

"…."

"Yup!"

"Damn it"

"Totally!"

"Well, guys don't have to deal with PMS do they?"

"No…"

"Ok… I'll go do something…. About everything…"

"Go on then,"

And so I left.

But as soon I had climbed down the ladder and I was just about to turn around towards the training ground I heard a sound behind and knew it was Glorfindel. _So typical! Why can't you just stay were I left you like a good elf? I need time to think!_

"How did you know where I was?" I asked, turning to face him.

"I asked a few elves and a man where I might find highly annoyed mortal female." He replied, he was giving me that look that I'm sure he knew would always make me forgive him for anything. I looked down at my feet, not quite sure what I should be saying. I looked up at him again, he was just looking at me as if he knew there was something I wanted to say. But, I didn't really feel like saying sorry, not that I didn't mean it, it just seemed a pathetic thing to say. So I just walked up to him circled my arms round him in a hug and then smiled when he hugged me back.

"Sorry…" I mumbled into his shoulder.

"That's ok," he answered and gave me a light kiss on my head.

"Damn it, you're too good for me you know that?" I asked, looking up into those blue eyes of his.

"I know," he said with a grin. I rolled my eyes at him and broke out of the hug.

"I need to go apologise to Aragorn, do you know where he is?"

"No, but I don't think he's that offended, he knows you," Glorfindel assured me.

"Oh God, have I already got a reputation for randomly shouting a perfectly nice guys?" I asked anxiously.

"You have? What did I miss when you were out defeating orc armies?" he asked.

"Umm… not much… lots of running, screaming, hiding, a bit more running, that about sums up the world experience,"

"Whatever keeps you in one piece," he said.

"Well exactly!" I said. He drew me into another hug, but just hugged me a bit too hard. "OUCH!" I shouted. Glorfindel let go of me quickly.

"What have I done?" he asked looking shocked.

"Put pressure on my bruises!" I complained.

"The bruises that where made worse by that duel with Haldir right?" he asked nervously.

"Those ones exactly!" I said.

"Oh…" he said, looking suitably apologetic

"Uhuh!"

"Sorry…."

"Forgiven… kinda"

* * *

//Dodges gone-off fruit thrown by loyal readers// Hi… so…. How are you//Dodges more fruit// We're sorry! In fact Ala in particular because it was mostly her fault this time, I'm sooo sorry (Tin: I finished my half about six weeks ago!) And I missed you guys! And the story! And I love you all! Am I forgiven?

But I do totally realise that we have to update more regularly, otherwise me and Tin will both have jobs and children by the time we finish this! But, we hope you enjoyed the last chapter, thanks for all the reviews (one advantage of not posting for ages is the reviews between!) Please review (as always) and have a happy February!


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